ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Crime: Nature Conservation

David Heath: To ask the Attorney-General what steps he has taken to improve prosecution of wildlife crime.

Oliver Heald: The CPS views wildlife crime offences very seriously and will robustly prosecute cases referred by the police. In order to achieve this, the CPS has 13 wildlife co-ordinators based in its regional areas. They are supported by face to face training and legal guidance on wildlife offences, which is available to all prosecutors and to the public.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney-General how many (a) men and (b) women have been (i) investigated, (ii) given an administrative penalty, (iii) given a caution and (iv) convicted in court for benefit fraud since the prosecution of such cases was transferred to the Law Officers' Department.

Oliver Heald: Allegations of benefit fraud are investigated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Administrative penalties are financial penalties, which can be offered as an alternative to prosecution, where there has been no previous fraud penalty of any form. These are issued by the DWP and local authorities. Cautions are issued by the police.
	The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and, reached a first hearing in magistrates courts, rather than the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted or their gender.
	No central records of the prosecution outcomes of offences are held by the CPS. To obtain details of the number of people prosecuted for and convicted of offences of benefit fraud, which can be charged under various sections of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, Section 35 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 or the Fraud Act 2006, including their gender, would require a manual exercise of reviewing individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.
	Furthermore, cases of benefit fraud are also prosecuted by local authorities so any data the CPS can glean from a manual exercise would not provide a complete record.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance currently issued to managers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission on managing a diverse workforce.

Helen Grant: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including diversity training. The guidance papers requested are internal documents that were not intended for wider publication. However, I have asked the EHRC to send copies to my hon. Friend.

Gender

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for Women what guidance she has given to other Departments on commissioning publicly-funded research into gender differences in brain development and functioning.

Helen Grant: I have given no guidance to other Departments on commissioning publicly-funded research into gender differences in brain development and functioning.

LGBT People

Steve Reed: To ask the Minister for Women what steps she is taking to advance equal rights for LGBT citizens in the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Jennifer Willott: The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) continue to recognise the UK as the highest ranking country for human rights protection of LGBT people in Europe.
	The UK Government is a member of the European Network of Governmental LGBT Focal Points which enables us to disseminate good practice and insight from the UK. Other members include European Union member states.
	The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 will recognise legally valid marriages of same sex couples formed in other European countries as legal marriages in England and Wales. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in liaison with the Government Equalities Office, is also carrying out an exercise to gain recognition of marriages of same sex couples formed in England and Wales overseas, including in other European Union member states.

Women's Business Council

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for Women how many times the Women’s Business Council has met in 2014; and how many times Ministers met that council in the last 12 months.

Jennifer Willott: The Women’s Business Council has already met on two occasions this year to progress the recommendations in its report published in 2013: on 5 March 2014 and 24 April 2014.
	Women’s Business Council members have met with Minsters four times during the last 12 months.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bangladesh

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK's relationship with Bangladesh of the activities in the UK of Tareque Rahman, Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Hugh Robertson: The UK enjoys a broad and wide-ranging relationship with Bangladesh which is built on engagement with the Government of Bangladesh and Bangladesh political parties, business and cultural exchanges between our people. We work on a range of bilateral and global issues that include Bangladesh’s recent endorsement of the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. We are not aware of any activities by Mr Rahman that have had an impact on our bilateral relationship.

Brunei

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) the Sultan of Brunei or (b) his representatives on the introduction of sharia criminal law in Brunei.

Hugo Swire: We remain concerned about the introduction of sharia criminal law in Brunei and have raised the matter with Brunei on several occasions. I raised the issue with Foreign Minister, Pehin Lim in October 2013. The Senior Minister of State, my right hon. and noble Friend Lady Warsi, visited Brunei and raised our concerns with HM The Sultan, Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed, the Attorney-General and State Mufti on 19 April. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara), discussed the implementation of sharia with Brunei’s Attorney-General at the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting on 6 May. We set out our concerns at the Universal Periodic Review of Brunei at the Human Rights Council on 2 May. We will continue to raise this issue with the Bruneian authorities.

Burma

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the situation for religious minorities in Burma.

Hugo Swire: British officials regularly receive reports on a wide range of human rights issues, including the treatment of religious minorities in Burma. We share UN Special Rapporteur for Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana’s concerns, as noted in his final report to the UN Human Rights Council on 2 April 2014, that the Burmese Government is
	“not fulfilling its international human rights obligation to tackle incitement to violence based on national, racial or religious hatred”.
	We are particularly concerned by the rise in anti-Muslim attacks and hate speech over the last two years, continued intercommunal tensions in Rakhine state and the plight of the Rohingya. I raised our wider concerns about the situation in Rakhine state with senior Burmese Ministers during their visit in January and Baroness Warsi discussed the situation with the Burmese Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, Dr Kan Zaw, during his visit to the UK in March. During my visit to Burma in January, I also met the Kachin Baptist Convention, the largest religious organisation in Kachin state. We continue to encourage religious tolerance and dialogue and call on the Burmese authorities and community leaders to help create a conducive environment for this to take place.

Commonwealth

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will convene a special session of Commonwealth representatives to discuss the suitability of President Rajapaksa as Chairperson in Office.

William Hague: Any decision on the Chair-in-Office role is for all Commonwealth Heads of Government to take by consensus, and we have no plans to convene a session on this. On 27 March 2014, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution which establishes an international investigation, and calls on the Sri Lankan Government to make progress on human rights and reconciliation. We encourage the Sri Lankan Government to co-operate with the resolution and the investigation, which is led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Egypt

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his Egyptian counterpart about the sentencing to death of 683 people in that country.

William Hague: The British Government are deeply concerned about the sentencing to death of 683 people by a court in Minya on 28 April. I made a statement on 28 April expressing my concern over the sentences and reports that some of the defendants may not have had adequate legal representation. On 2 April, during my last meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Fahmy, I raised the death sentences imposed on 529 people by the same court on 24 March, and asked the Egyptian Government to ensure that the defendants’ human and legal rights are properly upheld. The Government will continue to raise these concerns with the Egyptian Government.

Egypt

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has held with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, regarding the EU monitoring mission to Egypt in advance of this month’s presidential elections.

William Hague: Baroness Ashton briefed European Union member states on the Election Observation Mission (EOM) at the April EU Foreign Affairs Council. The EU has deployed an EOM to Egypt for the presidential elections scheduled on 26-27 May 2014, in response to an invitation by the Egyptian authorities. We support this deployment.

Iran

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 72W, on Iran, if he will provide a detailed itemisation of works of art, antiquities, fixtures and fittings and other items of public property damaged or destroyed by rioters in HM embassy in Tehran in 2011.

Hugh Robertson: The FCO is currently unable to provide a detailed breakdown of all items damaged or destroyed by rioters at the British embassy in Tehran in November 2011. Since visits to Tehran by UK officials recommenced on 3 December 2013—after a gap of two years—it has only been possible to conduct preliminary assessments of the condition of the embassy. A comprehensive assessment of the damage will require a detailed survey by a specialist. Planning is currently under way to conduct this survey as soon as is practical.

Morocco

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the provisions of the EU Deep and Comprehensive Free trade Agreement with Morocco apply outside the sovereign territory of Morocco.

Hugh Robertson: The terms of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement are currently being negotiated between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco. The agreement is between the European Communities and their member states and the Kingdom of Morocco.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of school-age girls in Nigeria abducted by Boko Haram or similar groups in each of the last five years.

Mark Simmonds: While abductions by Boko Haram are not new, the scale of this recent abduction of over 200 school girls from Chibok School on 14 April was unprecedented. As most of the reported abductions in the last few years have taken place in remote areas, where communication is difficult, we have been unable to verify the details of how many have taken place or how many children have been abducted.

Nigeria

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the situation for religious minorities in northern Nigeria.

Mark Simmonds: Conflict in northern Nigeria has caused great suffering in communities of different faiths and ethnicities. Representatives of the Government maintain regular contact with religious and ethnic community leaders across Nigeria. We recognise there are tensions in many parts of the country, including in the north-east, middle belt and the Niger Delta. Recent attacks by Boko Haram have been indiscriminate, but it is almost certain that these attacks have killed more Muslims than Christians.
	We recognise the underlying issues of poverty and inequality, which lead to inter-communal tensions and conflict in Nigeria and we urge political, traditional and religious leaders to work together in order to resolve these issues. The Department for International Development (DFID), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) continue to fund a range of conflict resolution projects across Nigeria designed to address these problems. We currently have an expert team in Abuja to help Nigeria deal with the abduction of the school girls from Chibok and to also look at addressing longer term challenges, including inter-communal tensions.

Nuclear Disarmament

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the steps he plans to take to remove UK nuclear weapons from deployment and their subsequent destruction.

Hugh Robertson: The Government committed in 2010 to reduce the UK’s nuclear weapons stockpile by the mid 2020s, down to no more than 120 operationally available warheads and no more than 180 warheads. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom will retain a credible, continuous and effective minimum nuclear deterrent for as long as the global security situation makes that necessary. The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review sets out the Government’s approach in more detail.

Official Visits

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 594-5W, on official visits, 
	(1)  whether the six received requests for special mission status were refused or granted, by country making the request;
	(2)  whether any of the six received requests for special mission status were refused (a) by reference to duties to prosecute or extradite persons alleged to have committed or to have ordered to be committed grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention or other international crimes and (b) on other human rights grounds;
	(3)  if he will provide details of the six received requests for special mission status; and from which countries they were received.

Mark Simmonds: None of the six requests for special mission status to which I referred in my answer to the House of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 594-5W, were refused. After consenting to the visits as special missions, two of the visits were subsequently cancelled by the country making the request.
	As I noted in my previous answer, in view of the confidentiality of diplomatic exchanges, we have no plans to make public further details about requests that have been granted or refused. But if those applying for special mission status wish to announce the details of their visit to the UK, they are of course at liberty to do so.

Pakistan

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the fairness of the hearing of Asia Noreen Bibi, sentenced to death in 2011 at the provincial Lahore High Court.

Hugh Robertson: We receive regular reports on the case of Mrs Bibi and others facing charges of blasphemy in Pakistan and we are aware that a number of NGOs and other governments follow her case closely. We remain concerned about the case of Asia Bibi and would urge the courts in Pakistan to ensure a fair and swift hearing of her appeal due later this month.

Pakistan

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Pakistan on (a) the fairness of the hearing of Asia Noreen Bibi who was sentenced to death in 2011 at the provincial Lahore High Court and (b) providing adequate protection to judiciary officials to allow a further hearing to take place.

Hugh Robertson: We regularly raise the issue of blasphemy laws, and their misuse against both Muslims and religious minorities, at the highest levels in Pakistan and press the government to ensure fair trials. We remain concerned about the case of Asia Bibi and would urge the courts in Pakistan to ensure a fair and swift hearing of her appeal due later this month. The Prime Minister raised our concerns regarding these laws and the need for reforms during the recent visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Swaziland

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports the Government has received on the Zakhele Remand Centre in Swaziland.

Mark Simmonds: We have not received any specific reports about the Zakhele Remand Centre. However, we remain concerned by the human rights situation in Swaziland, including restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. We call on the Swazi Government to respect the human rights of all detainees and the independence of the judiciary. We will continue to work with international partners including the EU, US, Commonwealth and the South African Development Community (SADC) to exert international pressure for change.

Swaziland

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instruct HM High Commissioner to Swaziland to raise the case of Mario Masuku and the Zakhele Remand Centre with the Swaziland Government.

Mark Simmonds: We will continue to raise human rights concerns, such as Mr Masuku’s arrest and current detention with the Swazi authorities at senior levels. The UK has no permanent diplomatic presence in Swaziland. However, our high commission in South Africa covers our relations with Swaziland and our officials visit Swaziland regularly.

Swaziland

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the arrest of Mario Masuku in Swaziland.

Mark Simmonds: We are concerned by the arrests of Mario Masuku and Maxwell Dlamini at a Workers' Event in Swaziland on 1 May. They have been charged under the Sedition and Subversive Activities and Suppression of Terrorism Acts and continue to be held in custody pending trial proceedings. We are also concerned by the situation of Thulani Maseko, a lawyer, and Bheki Makhubu, a journalist, who remain in custody in Swaziland following their re-arrest on 9 April 2014. We encourage the Swazi Government to respect the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Swaziland, as set out in the Swazi constitution, and their international human rights obligations.

Syria

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the situation of Christian communities in Syria.

Hugh Robertson: The ongoing crisis has clearly had a devastating impact on Christians, and on all of Syria’s communities. We remain deeply concerned by the situation for Christian communities in Syria, including in Raqqah and Kessab.
	This reinforces the need for us to support the moderate opposition who, as the UN Commission of Inquiry has acknowledged, have a pluralist and democratic vision for Syria and who are fighting extremist groups such as ISIL which pose a grave threat to Christians and others.

Western Sahara

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who the de facto administering power is in the area of Western Sahara not under Moroccan control; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: The UK does not regard any power as the de facto administrator of that part of the territory of Western Sahara not under Moroccan control.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Business Growth: Basildon and Thurrock

Stephen Metcalfe: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what support the Government is giving to business growth opportunities in Basildon and Thurrock.

Greg Clark: Basildon and Thurrock are key economic centres within the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area. The LEP submitted its Strategic Economic Plan and Growth Deal at the end of March which is currently being assessed and negotiated.
	The Growth Deal contains proposals for direct business support by extending the Southend Growth Hub announced in its City Deal recently.
	Other funding is also being invested through Regional Growth Fund, Growing Places Fund, and through investment in major transport improvements on the M25 and Dartford Crossing to reduce congestion and enhance connectivity to the ports.

Members of Parliament: Recall

David Hanson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to bring forward legislative proposals for the recall of hon. Members by their constituents.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government remain committed to introducing a recall mechanism which is transparent, robust and fair when parliamentary time allows. We reiterated this commitment in our response to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee’s report on recall.
	The Government’s legislative programme for the fourth Session of Parliament will be announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Political and Constitutional Reform

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Government's political and constitutional reform priorities are for the remainder of the present Parliament.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government continue to work on political and constitutional reform, particularly on devolving more powers from Whitehall to our cities and regions.
	Work also continues on the implementation of Individual Electoral Registration, recall of MPs and implementing the statutory register of consultant lobbyists.

Electoral Register

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to raise the number of people registered to vote.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to raise the number of people registered to vote.

Greg Clark: The Government are introducing online registration as of 10 June in England and Wales which will make it more convenient to register to vote.
	In addition, five national organisations and every electoral registration officer in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration, as part of the transition to individual electoral registration. These organisations have received funding to find new ways of reaching a range of under-registered groups such as young people and encouraging them to register to vote.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the answer of 6 September 2010, Official Report, column 304W, on electoral register, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide for penalties against local authorities which fail to provide sufficient funding and resources to enable electoral registration officers to fulfil their statutory responsibilities.

Greg Clark: Section 54 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 sets out that any expenses properly incurred by an ERO in the performance of their functions must be paid by the local authority that appointed them.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have achieved the highest increase in levels of voter registration in the last two years; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the practices leading to such increases are adopted in other local authorities.

Greg Clark: In 2012-13 the areas with the five largest percentage increases in the numbers registered on the local government register of electors were:
	Tower Hamlets
	Wycombe
	Cambridge
	East Lindsey
	City of Edinburgh
	In 2011-12 the areas were:
	Clackmannanshire
	Thanet
	West Lothian
	City of Edinburgh
	Shropshire UA
	The Government encourage local authorities to share best practice through the Expert Panel of electoral administrators, and various other forums in place to deliver Individual Electoral Registration.
	Guidance has also been available on the Association of Electoral Administrators’ website with examples of good practice which electoral registration officers can use to shape their work.

Referendums

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he has reviewed the efficacy of the guidance of the Electoral Commission on referendums; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: The Government have not reviewed the efficacy of guidance produced by the independent Electoral Commission.

Respite Care

Paul Maynard: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which organisations have received how much funding from his Office aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

Nicholas Clegg: The Deputy Prime Minister's Office does not itself fund organisations that support short breaks and respite provision. The Department for Education has policy responsibility for this area.

DEFENCE

Al-Sweady Inquiry

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of all invoices submitted by public interest lawyers for work undertaken in relation to Al-Sweady Inquiry.

Mark Francois: The Al-Sweady Inquiry has cost the public purse £28.4 million to 31 March 2014. The potential cost of the Inquiry to its completion is £31.1 million.
	The information requested is commercial in confidence and cannot be provided without a significant level of redaction of sensitive information.
	However I am able to provide a summary of costs incurred by public interest lawyers for work undertaken in relation to the Al-Sweady Inquiry up to 31 March 2014.
	
		
			 Summary of payments made to public interest lawyers in relation to the Al-Sweady Inquiry. 
			 Date of payment Amount of payment (£) 
			 March 2010 6,921.60 
			 August 2010 68,060.36 
			 October 2010 45,752.15 
			   
			 February 2011 41,581.11 
			 May 2011 94,154.64 
			 June 2011 6,210.00 
			 July 2011 33,828.33 
			 September 2011 10,113.68 
			 November 2011 6,445.34 
			 December 2011 2,421.51 
			   
			 January 2012 68,343.35 
			 February 2012 37,838.53 
			 April 2012 21,775.17 
			 May 2012 47,491.94 
			 June 2012 16,328.20 
			 July 2012 5,200.00 
			 August 2012 220.60 
			 September 2012 10,115.00 
			 November 2012 100,587.10 
			 December 2012 46,352.33 
			   
			 January 2013 99,208.41 
			 February 2013 51,117.56 
			 March 2013 74,356.24 
			 May 2013 197,070.38 
			 June 2013 107,544.50 
			 July 2013 164,335.64 
			 August 2013 85,516.25 
			 September 2013 33,091.25 
			 October 2013 176,401.67 
			 November 2013 187,376.83 
			   
			 January 2014 174,806.09 
		
	
	
		
			 February 2014 36,133.25 
			 March 2014 59,093.74 
			 April 2014 301,909.00 
			 Grand Total 2,417,701.75

Employment Tribunals Service

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of all Employment Tribunal judgements made against his Department since 2008 to date; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.
	Substantive answer from Anna Soubry to Mrs Moon:
	In my answer of 1 April 2014 (Official Report, column 622W) I promised to write in response to your request for copies of all Employment Tribunal judgments that have been made against the Ministry of Defence since 2008.
	There have been six such judgments between 2008 and 2013. Arrangements have been made for copies of those judgments to be placed in the Library of the House. I am aware that in a previous answer (Official Report, 31 March 2014, column 441-2W) I advised that there had been seven judgments made against the Department, however the number of judgments for 2012 included a claim which was actually settled before it went to tribunal.
	One of the six judgments was subject to an Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and then Court of Appeal—I have only provided a copy of the Court of Appeal decision.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what collision warning system is currently being tested on Typhoon aircraft; when he expects testing to be completed; when a decision will be taken to install such a system; and what the estimated total cost is.

Philip Dunne: Analysis is currently underway into potential collision warning system capability for Typhoon. A system has not yet been fitted on a Typhoon aircraft for testing.
	It is not possible at this stage to provide a timetable for the development of this capability, or for the decision on whether to install such a system on the aircraft. Similarly, it is too early to estimate the likely cost of such a system.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how much his Department spent in total on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(2)  what the top 20 highest amounts paid by his Department for external legal advice was in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; who received each such payment; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought in each case;
	(3)  how much his Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(4)  what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department has been since 7 May 2010.

Mark Francois: holding answer 5 June 2013
	The Ministry of Defence delegates authority for expenditure on external legal advice within the Department and it will therefore take time to collate the information.
	I will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	Substantive answer from Anna Soubry to Sadiq Khan:
	My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mark Francois), undertook to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Questions 157644, 158112, 158148 and 158149 of 17 June 2013 (Official Report, column 498W) about the Ministry of Defence's spending on external legal advice.
	I apologise for the length of time it has taken to respond. This is because legal costs are not accounted for in a manner which readily corresponds with the questions as framed. To establish such costs in the manner requested cannot be done without a further substantial manual examination of detailed financial and contractual records held across the Ministry of Defence. I regret therefore that we do not hold information in a form that would allow us to give you a fully comprehensive response.
	Question 157644
	In broad terms, however, our legal costs have been in the region of £30 million in financial year 2010-11, £25 million in 2011-12 and £28 million in 2012-13. We also recovered some £20 million of legal costs to the Defence budget in 2010-11. These annual figures include expenditure with the Treasury Solicitor's Department and other external legal advice and guidance. The figures do not include external legal work commissioned by the single Service legal branches or by the Service Prosecuting Authority, or miscellaneous expenditure such as the use of external patent attorneys or advice sought in foreign jurisdictions.
	Question 158112
	From the information which we hold, the following listing outlines the top twenty amounts paid to external law firms under our Commercial Framework arrangements and may be of use to you.
	
		
			 2010-11 
			 Service Provider Nature of Service Payments (£) 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 917,844 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Fees for professional services 804,716 
			 Dentons UKMEALLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 746,220 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Fees for professional services 448,415 
			 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Fees for professional services 375,483 
			 Mills and Reeve LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 369,939 
			 Herbert Smith LLP Fees for professional services 213,260 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 196,717 
			 Dentons UKMEALLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 186,853 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Fees for professional services 172,386 
			 Burges Salmon LLP Fees for professional services 161,247 
			 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Fees for professional services 99,043 
			 Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 52,168 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Fees for professional services 47,003 
		
	
	
		
			 Denton UKMEA LLP Fees for professional services 32,007 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Legal fees for land acquisition/disposal 30,243 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Fees for professional services 26,955 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Fees for professional services 25,198 
			 Mills and Reeve LLP Fees for professional services 15,846 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 14,115 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 
			 Service Provider Nature of Service Payments (£) 
			 Dentons UKMEALLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 835,605 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 725,686 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Fees for professional services 631,518 
			 Denton UKMEA LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 496,839 
			 Mills and Reeve LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 378,512 
			 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Fees for professional services 261,917 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Fees for professional services 188,477 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 143,575 
			 SNR Denton UK LLP Fees for professional services 123,831 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Fees for professional services 63,837 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Fees for professional services 41,186 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 37,843 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Fees for professional services 37,529 
			 Burges Salmon LLP Fees for professional services 29,873 
			 Allen and Overy LLP Fees for professional services 25,504 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Fees for professional services 19,717 
			 Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 12,134 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Fees for professional services 11,042 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Fees for professional services 6,984 
			 Denton UKMEA LLP Fees for professional services 4,077 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 
			 Service Provider Nature of Service Payments 
			 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Legal services in support of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's change programme 2,660,887 
			 Linklaters LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 1,469,501 
			 Denton UKMEA LLP [Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 1,379,965 
			 Denton UKMEA LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 974,966 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 675,281 
			 Simmons and Simmons LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 470,389 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 452,384 
			 Burges Salmon LLP Fees for professional services 396,962 
		
	
	
		
			 Wragge and Co LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 283,043 
			 Mills and Reeve LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 182,935 
			 Allen and Overy LLP Legal services for Defence Spectrum sale 172,192 
			 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Fees for professional services 165,628 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Fees for professional services 159,163 
			 Pinsent Masons LLP Fees for professional services 154,971 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Fees for professional services 75,108 
			 Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 64,186 
			 Mills and Reeve LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 62,909 
			 Burges Salmon LLP Government Procurement Service Framework Lot 8 39,920 
			 Burges Salmon LLP Provision of legal services to MOD and its Agencies 38,549 
			 Wragge and Co LLP Fees for professional services 29,596 
		
	
	Question 158148
	We do not hold separate records of the amount spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel.
	Question 158149
	The maximum hourly rate under the framework contracts we mostly use is just under £500.
	I hope that this information goes some way to answering your questions.

Public Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's cost of defence output categories taxonomy.

Philip Hammond: The Ministry of Defence's cost of defence taxonomy is as follows:
	Frigates
	Aircraft Carriers
	Destroyers
	Lynx Mk 3/8
	Minehunters
	Patrol vessels
	Survey vessels and Ice Patrol
	RW (SAR)
	Test, Simulation
	Landing Platform Dock
	Landing Platform Helicopter
	Landing Ship Dock
	Sea King Mk 7 ASaC, Mk 5 SAR
	Army Manning/Training Margin
	Army phase 1 training
	Army phase 2 training
	Army phase 3 training
	Defence CBRN Wing
	Civilian Training
	Light Brigades
	Air Assault Brigade
	Armoured Brigades
	Attack Helicopters
	Support Helicopters
	Mech Brigades
	RAF Force Protection
	RAF Reserves
	Royal Marines
	RNR and RMR
	Logistic Brigades
	2 MED Brigade
	Defence Medical Services
	Artillery Regts
	Engr Regts
	Signals Regts
	HQ Theatre Troops
	Commitments staff
	PJHQ, JFHQ, Theatre HQs
	Battle-Space Command and Control Communications and Information Systems
	IS and Communications Capability Projects
	Deployed Ops supporting units
	Deployable HQ
	Maritime Warfare Centre
	Joint Combat Aircraft
	Tornado
	Nuclear Deterrent
	Nuclear Estate
	Merlin
	Ship Submarine Ballistic Nuclear
	Ship Submarine Nuclear
	Estate Disposals
	MOD Estate
	Regional Prime Contracts
	Service Families Accommodation
	Single Living Accommodation
	Supporting infrastructure (utilities)
	Sustainability (DE&S War Reserves/Op Stocks)
	IS for Logistics
	Permanent Joint Operating Bses
	A400M
	BAe125
	BAe146
	C17
	Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft
	Hercules
	Tristar
	VC10
	Auxiliary Oiler
	Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment
	Royal Fleet Auxiliary
	Forward Repair Ship
	Joint Casualty Treatment Ship
	Defence Intelligence Staff
	ASTOR
	E3-D
	Rivet Joint
	Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
	Electronic Warfare
	UK Air Surveillance and Control
	Army Joint and Collective Training
	Specialist Training
	Defence Academy
	RAF Joint and Collective Training
	RN Joint and Collective Training
	RAF Manning/Training Margin
	RAF phase 1 training
	RAF phase 2 training
	RAF phase 3 training
	Army Cadets
	Army Recruiting
	RAF Cadets
	RAF Recruiting
	RAF Aerobatic Team
	RN Cadets
	RN Recruiting
	Regional Forces—Northern Ireland
	Regional Forces—Germany
	Regional Forces—GB
	SIT Outputs
	Army Reserves
	RN Manning/Training Margin
	RN phase 1 training
	RN phase 2 training
	RN phase 3 training
	MOD Police and Guarding
	Special Forces
	Typhoon
	Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing.

Public Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department’s output maps.

Philip Hammond: I regret that I must withhold the requested information as its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Radioactive Waste: Fife

Gordon Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to publish the remedial action plan for Dalgety bay; and when he expects to begin a consultation on that plan.

Philip Dunne: The right hon. Member will be aware that the Ministry of Defence remains committed to working alongside the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and other interested parties as part of a coalition to address the issue of radioactive contamination at Dalgety bay in the long term.
	I am pleased to be able to report that the Department remains on track to define and deliver a proposal informed by the work of Public Health England and the more detailed risk assessment for SEPA to assess the wider implications of implementation on stakeholders and the local community from the end of June 2014.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Airguns

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the number of air rifles in the UK.

Norman Baker: Only air rifles which have a discharge velocity of 12ft lbs are held on a firearms certificate.
	The police National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) shows that as of 12 May, 11,852 such air rifles were held on certificate in England and Wales.
	Low-powered air rifles (those below 12ft lbs discharge velocity) are not licensed in England and Wales. It is therefore not possible to provide an estimate of the number of air rifles which fall into this classification.

Asylum: Deportation

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been removed from the UK under the Dublin Convention in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is shown in the following table:[Official Report, 2 December 2014, Vol. 589, c. 2MC.]
	
		
			 People removed 
			  Number 
			 2010 1,449 
			 2011 1,308 
			 2012 970 
			 2013 1,020 
			 Note: The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 
		
	
	Removals fell in 2011 and 2012 because we stopped transferring asylum applicants to Greece under the Dublin Regulation in 2010. This was because it was found conditions there amounted to a breach of article 3 of ECHR. There then followed similar litigation around conditions in Italy, but we are still able to effect transfers there.

Asylum: Syria

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have arrived in the UK under the Syrian refugee programme.

James Brokenshire: To date 24 Syrians have arrived in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme, with the first group arriving at the end of March and a further group in April. We will not be releasing any further details; such as where they are travelling from, their specific vulnerabilities, or where they will be placed.
	The scheme is based on need, rather than being designed to meet a quota. However, we will continue to bring groups here on a regular basis, and envisage that several hundred people will be helped over the next three years.

Deportation

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons she will no longer fund the detention element of the Choices service from 1 April 2014; whether an alternative assisted voluntary returns programme will be made available to immigration detainees; and what assessment she has made of the potential effects of this decision on the number of (a) assisted voluntary returns and (b) enforced removals.

James Brokenshire: An assessment of the impact of this change is in train and the range of possible alternatives is complex. A full written response on the issue will be provided to the Member in due course, and the letter placed in the House Library.

Deportation

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration detainees left the UK through the assisted voluntary returns programmes in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: For the last five years, the numbers of detainees who have left the UK annually through AVR programmes are as follows:
	
		
			  Detainees departing through AVR 
			 2009 585 
			 2010 824 
			 2011 848 
			 2012 1,150 
			 2013 2,081 
		
	
	The figures provided are sourced from a Home Office management information system which is not quality assured under National Statistics protocols and is subject to change due to internal data quality checking. Figures provided from this source do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Deportation: Offenders

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of time was between a deportation order being made on a foreign national offender and their deportation in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: The average length of time between a deportation order being made on a foreign national offender and their deportation in each year since 2010 is as follows: 143 days in 2010, 148 days in 2011, 174 days in 2012 and 187 days in 2013.
	The increase in average time taken is driven mainly by serving more deportation orders earlier in the process, sometimes up to 27 months before sentence end date, to enable removal to take place as early as possible within the early removal scheme (ERS) period. The by-product of starting the deportation process earlier is that we have to wait longer to enforce a person’s removal, which artificially inflates the view on the average time taken to deport.

Deportation: Somalia

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the removal of asylum seekers to Somalia; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 327W.

Domestic Violence

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many calls were made to the National Domestic Violence Helpline in 2013; and how many such calls mentioned use of (a) any weapon and (b) a firearm.

Norman Baker: The Home Office provides funding to the National Domestic Violence Helpline, which is run jointly by Women’s Aid and Refuge. Latest management information provided by Women’s Aid and Refuge sets out that in the first half of financial year 2013/2014 (April-September 2013), the National Domestic Violence Helpline received 78,894 calls.
	The data do not provide information on the number of calls that mention the use of any weapon or firearms.

Domestic Violence

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of incidents of domestic violence involving a legally owned (a) firearm and (b) airgun in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: The requested information is not available centrally.
	The Home Office is notified by police forces in England and Wales of how many domestic abuse incidents they have dealt with but it is not possible from this information to say how many involved firearms (whether legally owned or not) or air weapons.

Emergency Services: Telecommunications

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential benefits and risks of commercial mobile networks providing the emergency services communications network.

James Brokenshire: The potential benefits and risks have been considered in detail as part of the Outline Business Case, which recommended this direction of travel and was approved by the emergency services, lead departments and the devolved Governments of Wales and Scotland during March 2014. These risks and issues will be updated as the Full Business Case is developed during the procurement phase, which was launched on 14 April 14.

Entry Clearances

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what representations she has received on removing the requirement to top up investments held by individuals on Tier 1 (Investor) visas;
	(2)  what representations she has received on extending the list of investment products that individuals can use to qualify for a Tier 1 (Investor) visa.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has had meetings with a number of immigration law firms who represent Tier 1 (Investor) clients in which these issues have been raised. The firms consider that removing the requirement to top up investments, and extending the list of qualifying investments, would attract more investors to the UK and encourage investments which would lead to greater returns.
	The Government are currently considering its response to the report on the Tier 1 (Investor) route published by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on 25 February 2014, which made recommendations on these issues. We will announce our decisions in due course.

Human Trafficking

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the nationality and gender was of each suspected victim of trafficking referred to the Trafficking Victim Support Scheme operated by the Salvation Army in April 2014; in which (a) region and (b) county each of the suspected victims was found; which agency referred each person to the Scheme; in which town the shelter was in which each such victim was placed for the relevant period; and what contact there is with each victim after they exit the shelter to ensure that they are not re-trafficked.

Karen Bradley: In April 2014, there were 111 referrals to the Government-funded support service for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales, administered by the Salvation Army. In the interests of victim safety, only the region in which the victim was encountered is provided, and not which town they were placed in. Once an individual receives a Conclusive Grounds decision they will be given tailored support to safely return home or integrate in the UK. Once they exit the service, no formal mechanisms exist to maintain contact.
	Details of the 111 referrals in April are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Nationality Gender Region Agency type 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Male East Midlands Local Authority 
			 Albanian Female Not Known Home Office 
			 Albanian Female Not Known Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Police 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Health Services 
			 Albanian Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female West Midlands Home Office 
		
	
	
		
			 Albanian Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South NGO 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East NGO 
			 Albanian Female South Police 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Bangladeshi Male South Home Office 
			 British Female North East Local Authority 
			 British Female South Police 
			 British Female North West Self Referral 
			 British Male South East Police 
			 British Female East Midlands Police 
			 British Female West Midlands Local Authority 
			 British Male Not Known Police 
			 British Female South East Police 
			 Cameroonian Female South East NGO 
			 Cameroonian Male South NGO 
			 Chinese Male South East Health Services 
			 Chinese Female South East Home Office 
			 Chinese Female Wales Home Office 
			 Chinese Female West Midlands Legal Representative 
			 Chinese Male Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Czech Male South West Police 
			 Czech Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Czech Female South East Police 
			 Democratic Republic of Congo Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Eritrean Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Eritrean Female West Midlands Home Office 
			 Filipino Female South NGO 
			 Ghanaian Male South Home Office 
			 Ghanaian Female North West Police 
			 Guyanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Hungarian Male South East Police 
			 Indian Female South East Police 
			 Indian Female North East NGO 
			 Indonesian Female South NGO 
			 Kenyan Female South East NGO 
			 Korean Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Latvian Male West Midlands Police 
			 Latvian Female South East Home Office 
			 Latvian Female West Midlands Other 
			 Lithuanian Male South Police 
			 Lithuanian Male South East Police 
			 Lithuanian Female South East Police 
			 Lithuanian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Malaysian Male South East NGO 
			 Nigerian Female South East Police 
			 Nigerian Female Not Known Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female Wales Legal Representative 
			 Nigerian Female South East Police 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South East Legal Representative 
			 Nigerian Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South NGO 
			 Nigerian Female North West Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South East Police 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
		
	
	
		
			 Nigerian Female South NGO 
			 Pakistani Female East Home Office 
			 Pakistani Male South Self Referral 
			 Pakistani Trans-gender South East NGO 
			 Polish Male East Midlands Self Referral 
			 Romanian Male South West Police 
			 Romanian Male South West Police 
			 Romanian Male South West Police 
			 Romanian Male South West Police 
			 Romanian Female South Police 
			 Romanian Male West Midlands Police 
			 Romanian Male West Midlands Police 
			 Romanian Male West Midlands Police 
			 Romanian Male South Police 
			 Romanian Male South Police 
			 Senegalese Female South East NGO 
			 Sierra Leone Male Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Sierra Leone Male South East Local Authority 
			 Sierra Leone Female South East Police 
			 Slovakian Female West Midlands Police 
			 Slovakian Female North West Police 
			 Sri Lankan Female South East Home Office 
			 Tanzanian Female North East Home Office 
			 Ugandan Female East Midlands Home Office 
			 Ugandan Female South NGO 
			 Ugandan Female South East Police 
			 Unknown Female Yorkshire Police 
			 Vietnamese Female South East Local Authority 
			 Vietnamese Male South West NGO 
			 Vietnamese Male South West Police 
			 Vietnamese Female South East Home Office 
			 Vietnamese Male South East NGO

Human Trafficking

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials are employed in her Department's Human Trafficking Unit; what the purpose of the unit is; and what the role is of each such official.

Karen Bradley: A dedicated Modern Slavery Unit has been set up in the Home Office to lead and coordinate cross-Government activity to stamp out this terrible crime. The Modern Slavery Unit currently comprises 13 members of staff and is responsible for a comprehensive programme of activity, which includes development of the Modern Slavery Bill, and management of the adult victim care contract. In addition, one member of staff has been seconded from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to lead on international issues. There are also six members of staff working on the review of the National Referral Mechanism. This team is independent of the Modern Slavery Unit.
	The Modern Slavery Unit is further supported by a number of staff across the Home Office who work on related modern slavery issues including child trafficking and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority. This is in addition to the operational caseworkers in UK Visas and Immigration, who are involved in decision making on individual cases.

Human Trafficking

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's priorities are for provisions to be included in the forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill.

Karen Bradley: The Modern Slavery Bill is an important step in the fight against modern slavery. The provisions in the Bill are designed to protect victims and strengthen the law enforcement response. Increased sentences, restricting the activities of those who pose a risk to others and introducing an Anti-Slavery Commissioner will ensure that law enforcement have the tools they need to prosecute and convict the perpetrators of this abhorrent crime, while at the same time protecting more people from becoming victims of this appalling crime.

Illegal Immigrants: Olympic Games 2012

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of people who came to the UK to (a) participate in and (b) spectate at the 2012 Olympic Games who remain in the country illegally.

James Brokenshire: Close to 70,000 records of individuals who were accredited by LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) have been investigated. These individuals were subject to immigration control. This would include athletes, coaches, sponsors, etc. but the records do not include those who came merely to watch the Games.
	At the time of the investigations, 82 individuals had claimed asylum and 50 had not returned but were in possession of another form of legitimate leave.

Immigration Controls

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are taken so that immigration officers ensure the removal of any face coverings before authorising an individual's entry to the UK.

James Brokenshire: All passengers wearing a veil or face covering on arrival in the United Kingdom will be asked to remove their veil so that their appearance can be compared with the photograph in their passport. If a passenger refuses to remove their veil they will be detained until they do so.

Immigration: Telephone Services

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual cost is of the asylum and immigration hotline open to hon. Members.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the hon. Member, on 12 May. A copy of the letter was also placed in the House Library.
	The MPs' hotline is a dedicated resource, for Members, based in Croydon and answers queries on Members' constituents' immigration queries. The staffing costs of the MPs' hotline for 2013 were £180,240.

Licensing Laws: Wales

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which people from Wales responded to the consultation on the relaxation of licensing hours during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Norman Baker: The Government received 25 responses to the online consultation on the relaxation of licensing hours during the FIFA World Cup from respondents who identified themselves as living or working in Wales. This included nine from members of the public, seven from licensing authorities, three from the licensed trade or trade organisations and two from the police and four from ‘other’. The response to the consultation is available online at the gov.uk website.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Minister for Immigration and Security dated 10 March 2014, from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. Ejaz.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 13 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs S. Rajabbi.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr A. A. Dada Shzadeh.

James Brokenshire: A Home Office official replied to the right hon. Member on 2 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr M. Barzi.

James Brokenshire: I replied to the right hon. Member today, 13 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 19 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr F. Mir.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 24 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Abdul Rehman.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 19 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr F. Mir.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Asif Rafiq.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr M. Barzi.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right. hon. Member today, 13 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Immigration and Security Minister dated 27 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Dr M. Hatamleh.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Minister for Immigration and Security dated 16 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. Ejaz.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 6 May 2014.

Metals: Licensing

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the proportion of applicants for scrap metal dealer's licences who were not known to their local authority under the previous registration system.

Norman Baker: No estimate has been made of the proportion of applicants for scrap metal dealer’s licences who were not known to their local authority under the previous registration system.

Offenders: Deportation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of time spent in prison awaiting deportation for those foreign national prisoners beyond the end of their sentence was in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The average length of time foreign national offenders (FNOs) were held in prison beyond the end of their sentence pending deportation, as of 31 December 2013 is 234 calendar days. This is the mean average, calculated using the table shown which was provided in response to PQ 195817.
	It should be noted that the small number of FNOs who fall in the 24 to 60 and 60+ months categories (45 individuals out of 850) heavily skew the mean. By way of context, the modal average length of time in prison for the same cases is 32 days.
	
		
			 Time held beyond end of sentence Total 
			 0-1 month 110 
			 1-2 months 110 
			 2-6 months 285 
			 6-12 months 200 
			 12-24 months 100 
			 24-60 months 35 
			 60+ months 10 
			 Grand Total 850 
			 Notes: 1. All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 2. Figures relate to main applicants only. 3. Figures relate to FNO cases who met the criteria for deportation only. 4. Figures rounded to the nearest 5 ( - = 0, * = 1 or 2) and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. 5. Data are a snapshot of individuals detained in prison on 31 December 2013. 
		
	
	We make every effort to ensure that a person’s removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with his/her release from prison on completion of sentence. Where a detainee refuses to cooperate with the removal or deportation process, detention may be prolonged.
	The Immigration Bill will have a significant impact on the ability of FNOs to delay removal by mounting legal challenges while in the UK. The current appeals system means that 17 different types of decision can be appealed. The Immigration Bill will simplify the appeals system and mean that appeals can only be brought where the Home Office has refused a protection (asylum or humanitarian protection) claim, a human rights claim or a claim based on EU free movement rights. It will also give us the power to certify that where deportation will not cause serious irreversible harm, the appeal will be heard after the FNO has left the country.

Offenders: Deportation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals who have served their sentence but are awaiting deportation there are in each prison.

James Brokenshire: The number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) detained in prison beyond the end of their sentence pending deportation (as of 31 December 2013) is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Prison name Total 
			 HMP and YOI Isis 10 
			 HMP Addiewell * 
			 HMP Altcourse * 
			 HMP Aylesbury 5 
			 HMP Barlinnie 5 
			 HMP Bedford 5 
		
	
	
		
			 HMP Belmarsh 10 
			 HMP Birmingham (Winson Green) 15 
			 HMP Brinsford 5 
			 HMP Bristol 5 
			 HMP Brixton 10 
			 HMP Bronzefield 10 
			 HMP Bullingdon 25 
			 HMP Bure 5 
			 HMP Cardiff 5 
			 HMP Channings Wood * 
			 HMP Chelmsford 15 
			 HMP Coldingley * 
			 HMP Dartmoor * 
			 HMP Deerbolt 5 
			 HMP Doncaster 10 
			 HMP Dorchester * 
			 HMP Dovegate * 
			 HMP Drake Hall 5 
			 HMP Dumfries * 
			 HMP Durham * 
			 HMP Eastwood Park * 
			 HMP Edinburgh 5 
			 HMP Elmley 5 
			 HMP Elmley (Sheppey Cluster) 30 
			 HMP Erlestoke House * 
			 HMP Everthorpe * 
			 HMP Exeter * 
			 HMP Featherstone 5 
			 HMP Feltham 15 
			 HMP Forest Bank 15 
			 HMP Garth * 
			 HMP Glen Parva 10 
			 HMP Guys Marsh 5 
			 HMP Haverrigg * 
			 HMP Hewell 15 
			 HMP High Down 15 
			 HMP Highpoint North 20 
			 HMP Highpoint South 10 
			 HMP Holloway 15 
			 HMP Holme House 5 
			 HMP Hull * 
			 HMP Huntercombe and Finnamore 35 
			 HMP Lancaster Farms * 
			 HMP Leeds (Armley) 15 
			 HMP Leicester 10 
			 HMP Lewes 5 
			 HMP Lincoln 20 
			 HMP Lindholme 5 
			 HMP Littlehey 15 
			 HMP Liverpool 10 
			 HMP Long Lartin * 
			 HMP Low Newton * 
			 HMP Maidstone 45 
			 HMP Manchester 10 
			 HMP Moorland 20 
			 HMP New Hall * 
			 HMP Northumberland * 
			 HMP Norwich 10 
			 HMP Nottingham 15 
			 HMP Oakwood 5 
			 HMP Parc 5 
			 HMP Pentonville 45 
			 HMP Peterborough 15 
			 HMP Portland 5 
			 HMP Preston * 
		
	
	
		
			 HMP Ranby 15 
			 HMP Risley 15 
			 HMP Rochester * 
			 HMP Send * 
			 HMP Shotts * 
			 HMP Stafford 5 
			 HMP Standford Hill (Sheppey Cluster) * 
			 HMP Stoke Heath 5 
			 HMP Styal * 
			 HMP Swinfen Hall * 
			 HMP Thameside 35 
			 HMP The Mount 10 
			 HMP Wakefield * 
			 HMP Wandsworth 45 
			 HMP Wayland * 
			 HMP Whatton * 
			 HMP Winchester * 
			 HMP Wolds * 
			 HMP Woodhill 15 
			 HMP Wormwood Scrubs 60 
			 HMP Wymott 5 
			 Grand total 850 
			 Notes: 1. All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 2. Figures relate to main applicants only. 3. Figures relate to criteria FNO cases only. 4. Figures rounded to the nearest 5 ( ‘-’ = 0, * = 1 or 2) and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. 5. Data is a snapshot of individuals detained in prison on 31 December 2013. 
		
	
	We make every effort to ensure that a person’s removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with his/her release from prison on completion of sentence. Where a detainee refuses to co-operate with the removal or deportation process, detention may be prolonged.
	The Immigration Bill will have a significant impact on the ability of FNOs to delay removal by mounting legal challenges while in the UK. The current appeals system means that 17 different types of decision can be appealed. The Immigration Bill will simplify the appeals system and mean that appeals can only be brought where the Home Office has refused a protection (asylum or humanitarian protection) claim, a human rights claim or a claim based on EU free movement rights. It will also give us the power to certify that where deportation will not cause serious irreversible harm, the appeal will be heard after the offender has left the country.

Offenders: Deportation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals in prison awaiting deportation beyond the end of their sentence have spent (a) up to one month, (b) up to two months, (c) up to six months, (d) up to 12 months, (e) up to 24 months, (f) up to 60 months and (g) over 60 months awaiting deportation.

James Brokenshire: The following table shows the number of time served Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in prison pending deportation, based on the length of time held beyond the end of their sentence, as of 31 December 2013.
	
		
			 Time held beyond end of sentence Total 
			 0-1 month 110 
			 1-2 months 110 
		
	
	
		
			 2-6 months 285 
			 6-12 months 200 
			 12-24 months 100 
			 24-60 months 35 
			 60+ months 10 
			 Grand Total 850 
			 1. All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 2. Figures relate to main applicants only. 3. Figures relate to FNO cases who met the criteria for deportation only. 4. Figures rounded to the nearest 5 ( - = 0, * = 1 or 2) and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. 5. Data is a snapshot of individuals detained in prison on 31 December 2013. 
		
	
	We make every effort to ensure that a person’s removal by deportation coincides, as far as possible, with his/her release from prison on completion of sentence. Where a detainee refuses to cooperate with the removal or deportation process, detention may be prolonged.
	The Immigration Bill will have a significant impact on the ability of FNOs to delay removal by mounting legal challenges whilst in the UK. The current appeals system means that 17 different types of decision can be appealed. The Immigration Bill will simplify the appeals system and mean that appeals can only be brought where the Home Office has refused a protection (asylum or humanitarian protection) claim, a human rights claim or a claim based on EU free movement rights. It will also give us the power to certify that where deportation will not cause serious irreversible harm, the appeal will be heard after the FNO has left the country.

Official Visits: Uganda

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the names are of all those issued visas in connection with the current visit of President Museveni of Uganda.

James Brokenshire: It is not the policy of the Home Office to comment on the detail of individual applications.

Private Investigators

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2014, Official Report, column 346W, on private investigations, when the terms and conditions for private investigator licences will be published.

Karen Bradley: The terms and conditions for licences to conduct private investigations will be issued by the Security Industry Authority (SIA)-the regulator of the private security industry-before the implementation of the new statutory licensing requirement.

Proceeds of Crime

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which countries the UK has asset sharing agreements for the purposes of freezing, confiscating and repatriating the proceeds of crime; and how many such agreements have been reached since 2010-11.

Karen Bradley: The UK is party to a number of multilateral international agreements that contain asset recovery and asset sharing provisions. These include the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. The UK does not require a formal international agreement to be able to co-operate with another country in respect of freezing, confiscating and sharing or repatriating the proceeds of crime but does have 37 bilateral mutual legal assistance agreements with other countries including such provisions. These are:
	1. Algeria
	2. Antigua and Barbuda
	3. Argentina
	4. Australia
	5. Bahamas
	6. Bahrain
	7. Barbados
	8. Brazil
	9. Canada
	10. Chile
	11. Colombia
	12. Ecuador
	13. Grenada
	14. Guyana
	15. Hong Kong SAR
	16. India
	17. Ireland
	18. Italy
	19. Jordan
	20. Libya
	21. Malaysia
	22. Mexico
	23. Netherlands
	24. Nigeria
	25. Panama
	26. Paraguay
	27. Philippines
	28. Romania
	29. Saudi Arabia
	30. Spain
	31. Sweden
	32. Thailand
	33. UAE
	34. Ukraine
	35. Uruguay
	36. USA
	37. Vietnam
	The agreements with Jordan and Malaysia have been concluded since 2010.
	There are a further six bilateral agreements limited to the issue of asset sharing. These are:
	1. Canada
	2. Jersey
	3. Hong Kong SAR
	4. Ireland
	5. Jamaica
	6. Netherlands
	These were all concluded prior to 2010.

Roads: Lighting

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research her Department has undertaken on the relationship between levels of street lighting and the incidence of (a) burglaries, (b) offences against the person and (c) other crimes.

Norman Baker: The Home Office has not undertaken any recent research into the relationship between levels of street lighting and the incidence of crimes.

Metal Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the export of stolen scrap metal.

Norman Baker: Home Office Ministers have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues and EU counterparts as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Metal Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice her Department has issued to police forces on working with the UK Border Force in preventing the export of stolen scrap metal.

Norman Baker: The Home Office has not issued guidance on this point to police forces. However, work is underway in UK Border Force and other law enforcement organisations to tackle this problem, including the better profiling and identification of containers that may contain stolen metal. They are also looking at whether there are technological solutions that can be used to better secure our borders.

Metal Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what organisation will take over the competencies of the National Metal Theft Taskforce once funding for that body ends.

Norman Baker: The Home Office will continue to contribute to the funding of the National Metal Theft Taskforce until 30 September 2014. The decision to provide funding until that date ensures the Taskforce operates concurrently with the first year of the new licensing scheme under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. After that date, future enforcement activity will become the responsibility of individual police forces based on their local crime priorities. It was never the intention that the Taskforce would continue indefinitely.

Metal Theft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of stolen scrap metal exported for sale abroad.

Norman Baker: The Home Office has not undertaken an assessment of the level of stolen scrap metal exported for sale abroad.
	We are aware of the risk that stolen metals may be directly exported and so work is underway with UK Border Force and other law enforcement organisations to deal with this, including the better profiling and identification of containers that may contain stolen metal. We are also looking to see whether there are any technological solutions we can use to better secure our borders.

UK Visas and Immigration Directorate

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed by the UK Visa and Immigration Directorate on 1 April 2014.

James Brokenshire: The number of people (paid and unpaid civil servants as well as agency and contractors substituting as civil servants) employed by UK Visas and Immigration on 31 March 2014 was 7,107 (6,598.67 full-time equivalent).
	In line with Office for National Statistics guidelines, all Government Departments are required to report their official statistics relating to numbers of employees using calendar month end dates. This answer has therefore been provided using information as at 31 March 2014 rather than 1 April 2014.

JUSTICE

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in (a) Rossendale and (b) Darwen were found guilty of (i) drunk and disorderly behaviour and (ii) drunk and aggravated behaviour in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to separately identify from this centrally held information the location of an offence or the home address of an offender. This detailed information may be held on the court record but due to the size and complexity is not reported centrally to the MOJ. As such, the information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Arrest Warrants

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate procedural safeguards are in place for vulnerable defendants in European Arrest Warrant proceedings.

Shailesh Vara: Legal aid is available for extradition proceedings in the same way as any other criminal proceedings, subject to passing the interests of justice test and means test; and the services of an interpreter are available to any defendant who needs them. These safeguards are not limited to vulnerable defendants.
	At Westminster magistrates court, which is the only court that deals with outgoing extraditions, a court-based mental health team makes an assessment of defendants making their first appearance in custody, who include all defendants in extradition cases.

Bail

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what average period of time is spent on bail by an offender whose case is dealt with in a (a) magistrates court and (b) Crown court where the offender (i) pleads guilty at the outset, (ii) changes their plea to guilty during the course of the proceedings and (iii) pleads not guilty.

Shailesh Vara: Information on bail and remand collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the court proceedings database does not include any information on the length of time defendants were held on bail or remand. This information could only be ascertained by reference to individual court files which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: Although reducing and rationalising the Ministry of Justice estate could result in relocations, there is no centrally driven relocation target to this effect. Any relocation is done based on the operational needs of the Department. The Ministry of Justice currently has no plans to relocate its staff or offices to Brighton. The Ministry of Justice continues to work with the Government Property Unit to ensure that the Ministry of Justice estate operates in an efficient manner and represents value for money.

Burglary

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment his Department has made of the effect of burglary on children.

Damian Green: I recognise that burglary can have severe emotional and other negative effects on victims, particularly on children, for whom the safety and security of the home is especially important.
	The Government’s new Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, which came into force on 10 December 2013, gives victims of crime clearer entitlements from criminal justice agencies and better tailors services to individual need. Under the code, criminal justice agencies must provide enhanced services to vulnerable victims, including victims under the age of 18. The code contains a section dedicated to the needs of children and young people.
	The code also entitles victims to make a victim personal statement (VPS) which provides them with a stronger voice in the criminal justice process. Therefore child victims of burglary, or other crimes, are able to explain in their own words how the crime has affected them.

CAFCASS

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of levels of satisfaction with CAFCASS among younger children who do not complete formal feedback forms.

Simon Hughes: While complaints made to CAFCASS by children and young people are monitored nationally, it collects, monitors and acts on feedback at a local level. CAFCASS has commissioned the Family Justice Young People’s Board to review how children and young people provide feedback to CAFCASS and advise on ways to encourage more feedback both via formal and informal routes. CAFCASS now has various methods of obtaining feedback from the children and young people it works with which include more formal methods such as feedback forms and more informal and child-friendly methods such as ‘feedback trees’. Feedback trees encourage children to write out or draw their feelings on how CAFCASS has worked with them, allowing CAFCASS practitioners to build on this feedback. There is no central or national monitoring of this informal feedback.

Compensation

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the target time is for a decision on an application for compensation.

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) does not have a target. The average (mean) time between application receipt and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) initially deciding the case was 8.8 months in 2012-13.
	This time taken varies depending on the individual’s circumstances and the complexity of the case: for some serious injuries claims can only be finalised when the extent of the impact on their health or ability to earn becomes clear. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) seeks to decide cases as quickly as possible.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications were made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority's hardship fund in 2012-13; and what proportion of such applications was successful.

Damian Green: The hardship fund opened on 27 November 2012 so only covered four months of the 2012-13 financial year. In that time the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority received nine applications for hardship funds. Two of these were withdrawn by the applicant and one was redirected to be considered under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which was more appropriate to the facts in that case.
	All six of the remaining applications were successful.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many staff were employed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority on (a) 31 March 2011, (b) 31 March 2012 and (c) 31 March 2013;
	(2)  how many senior decision makers were employed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each region on (a) 31 March 2011, (b) 31 March 2012 and (c) 31 March 2013.

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) divides its case work between six teams, each of which handles applications from a particular region of Great Britain. When the need arises they also create cross-regional special exercise teams to carry out projects. All of these teams work from a single office. Northern Ireland has a separate Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which CICA does not administer. The six regional teams are numbered as follows:
	1. Scotland and Wales
	2. North-west England
	3. North-east England
	4. Midlands
	5. South England
	6. London
	CICA publish detailed datasets of their staff numbers broken down by job title, but these do not specify which regional team someone works in. The table sets out how many staff CICA employed on the dates specified, and how many of those were senior decision makers (SDMs) and decision makers (DMs) in each region. CICA may move staff between regions throughout the year to fill temporary staff vacancies or address variances in the number of cases each region is handling. These figures do not show if staff were temporarily redeployed to assist another region on the date specified.
	In recent years CICA have invested in improved technology and introduced more efficient processes which have allowed them to reduce administration costs while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
	
		
			  Number of SDMs Number of DMs Number of staff 
			 31 March 2011    
			 Region 1 2 6 443 
			 Region 2 1 11  
			 Region 3 3 6  
			 Region 4 2 7  
			 Region 5 3 5  
			 Region 6 3 7  
			 Special exercise 1 4  
			     
			 31 March 2012    
			 Region 1 2 3 407 
			 Region 2 3 6  
			 Region 3 1 5  
			 Region 4 3 6  
			 Region 5 3 7  
			 Region 6 3 7  
			     
			 31 March 2013    
			 Region 1 2 5 369 
			 Region 2 1 7  
			 Region 3 0 6  
			 Region 4 5 6  
		
	
	
		
			 Region 5 3 8  
			 Region 6 2 7  
			 Special exercise 4 2

Criminal Proceedings

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress he has made implementing the recommendations of Getting It Right for Victims and Witnesses, Cm 8288, published in January 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Green: We have made great progress in implementing all recommendations from the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ consultation.
	From 1 October this year the majority of support services for victims of crime will be commissioned locally by PCCs, who are best placed to understand the needs of victims in their community. MOJ are nationally commissioning a number of services for victims and witnesses, specifically the Homicide Service, the court based witness service and the rape support fund, as well as some national helplines for victims.
	Support services, whether commissioned locally or nationally, will for the first time be focused on outcomes, supporting victims to cope with the immediate impacts of crime, and as far as is possible, help them to recover.
	The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime came into force on 10 December 2013. The Code gives victims of crime clearer entitlements from the criminal justice system and tailors services to individual need so they get the right support at the right time. It also includes a section dedicated to people under 18, their parents and guardians and a separate chapter for businesses.
	We wanted to give victims a stronger voice in the criminal justice system. That is why the new Victims’ Code entitles victims to make a Victim Personal Statement to leave the in no doubt about the impact of their crime on the victim. The Code now includes an improved complaints process.
	The Government has also published the Witness Charter alongside the Victims’ Code, which demonstrates our commitment to improving all witnesses’ experience of the criminal justice system.
	We are currently piloting pre-trial cross-examination in Leeds, Liverpool and Kingston–upon–Thames crown courts, allowing vulnerable witnesses to give evidence in advance and sparing them from facing questioning during the trial.
	We reformed the Victim Surcharge in October 2012 to increase fines and extend it to a wider range of cases to ensure more offenders pay towards the cost of victims’ services. Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) were increased from 1 July 2013 for the same aim. A clause included in the ASB, Crime and Policing Act 2014 will prevent offenders sentenced in the magistrates’ courts from discharging the Surcharge as additional days in custody.
	We implemented a revised Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme in November 2012 that focuses on seriously injured victims of serious crime.
	More money than ever before will be available for services to support victims of crime, with a potential total budget of up to £100 million, double MOJ's current spending of around £50 million.

Data Protection

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to consult on the introduction of custodial sentences under section 77 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 relating to data protection breaches; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Hughes: The Government is currently reviewing the sanctions available for breaches under the Data Protection Act 1998. This includes considering whether to consult on introducing section 77 (CJIA) and commence the enhanced public interest defence under section 78 (CJIA).

Electronic Government

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the oral answer of 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 815, how the assisted digital service for lasting power of attorney is provided and accessed; and what assisted digital services are in place for other Government digital services.

Simon Hughes: The Office of the Public Guardian (an Executive agency of the Ministry of Justice) is piloting an assisted digital service through three third sector organisations: Alzheimer's Society, Age UK and CAB. Customers identified as requiring the service are signposted by the OPG contact centre to the providers national contact numbers. The pilots are being used to assess the extent of the assisted digital need and to evaluate different methods for delivery.
	Before going live every digital by default service is required to make sure appropriate assisted digital support is in place. Services are working with GDS to understand who their assisted digital users are and what this support should look like.

Family Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of (a) judges and (b) magistrates who deal with family court cases are (i) male and (ii) female.

Shailesh Vara: The Government are committed to judicial diversity—it is important that judges and magistrates reflect the diverse communities in which they serve. I am able to provide an answer to the first part of the question—the following table provides the gender breakdown of judges who deal with family cases.
	
		
			  Number Percentage 
			 Male 765 65 
			 Female 411 35 
			 Total 1,176 — 
		
	
	I am unable to provide an answer to the information requested about magistrates—to do so would require each of the 47 local advisory committees to check the individual personal records of all of the family court magistrates in their respective areas. This would incur disproportionate costs. Information on magistrates’ diversity more generally is published on the judiciary website at:
	http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications-and-reports/statistics/magistrates-statistics
	In relation to my hon. Friend’s question about the gender profile of magistrates who sit in the family court, I trust it will be of some assistance if I explain that the gender profile for the 21,641 serving magistrates overall is currently 10,317 (48%) male and 11,324 (52%) female.

Ford Prison

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners released on temporary licence from Ford Open Prison failed to return in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: The following table shows the number of releases on temporary licence and failures to return recorded at HMP Ford since 2008. Data on failures to return is unavailable before 2009 and centrally held data on temporary releases is unavailable for 2009 and 2010 when a new prison database system was introduced.
	Data on temporary release failures for 2013 will be published later this year:
	
		
			 HMP Ford: Release on temporary licence and failures to return 
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Failures to return — 10 12 18 28 
			 Temporary releases 21,145 — — 24,606 33,381 
		
	
	Failures on ROTL remain very rare, consistently accounting for less that one tenth of 1% of all releases, but they are taken seriously. In March, we announced a range of measures to strengthen the existing temporary release provisions to ensure that the right balance is always struck between facilitating resettlement and protecting the public. Under our plans, there will be a more consistent, tougher approach to dealing with ROTL failures and, in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, we are seeking to increase the maximum penalty for failing to return from ROTL from six months’ to two years’ imprisonment.

Fraud: Social Security Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of (a) men and (b) women found guilty of benefit fraud in each of the last 10 years received (i) immediate custodial sentences and (B) non-custodial sentences.

Jeremy Wright: The sentencing framework and sentencing guidelines apply equally to all offenders. Sentencing is entirely a matter for the courts, taking account of all the circumstances of each case. This will include the seriousness of the offence, including all aggravating and mitigating factors, and a guilty plea.
	Fraud has a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and there are various other offences which are specific to benefit fraud, with maximum penalties of up to seven years’ imprisonment. The courts must follow the relevant sentencing guideline in their approach to sentencing. Last year, the Sentencing Council conducted a public consultation on a new draft guideline for fraud and a new definitive guideline, informed by the responses received, will apply in due course.
	In addition to criminal penalties, those convicted of benefit fraud also face a restriction on their benefits for an extended period.
	The number of men and women sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud in England and Wales from 2002 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.
	Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15 May 2014.
	
		
			 Males and Females sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud1, England and Wales, 2002-122, 3, 4 
			 Sex Year Sentenced Immediate custody Non custodial sentences5 
			 Male 2002 3,919 141 3,778 
			  2003 3,995 115 3,880 
			  2004 4,285 148 4,137 
			  2005 4,387 168 4,219 
			  2006 3,928 169 3,759 
			  2007 4,065 111 3,954 
			  2008 3,572 172 3,400 
			  2009 2,855 179 2,676 
			  2010 2,624 106 2,518 
			  2011 2,556 163 2,393 
			  2012 3,341 135 3,206 
			 Female 2002 3,910 59 3,851 
			  2003 3,958 71 3,887 
			  2004 3,904 82 3,822 
			  2005 4,107 131 3,976 
			  2006 4,240 103 4,137 
			  2007 4,452 89 4,363 
			  2008 4,231 90 4,141 
			  2009 3,544 121 3,423 
			  2010 3,263 102 3,161 
			  2011 3,014 123 2,891 
		
	
	
		
			  2012 3,847 115 3,732 
			 "-" Nil 1 Includes the following offences: Social Security Administration Act 1992 added by Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997-Dishonest representation for obtaining benefits Social Security Administration Act 1992-False representation. Contravention of regulations etc. Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended by Social security Act 1998-Knowingly being concerned in fraudulent evasion of contributions Social Security Administration Act 1992-Illegal possession of documents relating to benefits etc. 2 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes those cases where the defendant's sex was 'not stated'. 5 Includes the following: absolute and conditional discharge, fine, community sentence, suspended sentence, otherwise dealt with. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Fraud: Social Security Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, columns 244-46W, on fraud: social security benefits, how many of the convictions listed were dealt with at (a) magistrates courts and (b) Crown courts.

Shailesh Vara: Pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, columns 244-46W, the number of men and women found guilty for offences relating to benefit fraud by court type in England and Wales from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) is shown in the following table.
	Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15 May 2014.
	
		
			 Males and females found guilty for benefit fraud1, by court type, England and Wales, 2008-122, 3, 4 
			 Court type Gender 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Magistrates court Male 3,228 2,437 2,210 2,161 3,026 
			  Female 3,695 2,935 2,582 2,337 3,314 
			        
			 Crown court Male 343 394 393 370 277 
			  Female 504 576 627 622 484 
			 1 Includes the following offences: Social Security Administration Act 1992 added by Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997—Dishonest representation for obtaining benefits Social Security Administration Act 1992—False representation. Contravention of regulations etc. Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended by Social Security Act 1998—Knowingly being concerned in fraudulent evasion of contributions. Social Security Administration Act 1992—Illegal possession of documents relating to benefits etc. 2 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes those cases where the defendant’s sex was ‘not stated’. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services: Ministry of Justice.

Health: Research

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that the proposed General European Data Protection Regulation does not prevent health research involving personal data from taking place.

Simon Hughes: The Government are aware of the concerns raised by representatives of the research community about amendments to the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation that could prevent health research involving personal data from taking place. These concerns centre on amendments to the proposed Regulation that have been agreed by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee of the European Parliament.
	The Government’s view is that the ability of researchers to process personal data in the way that they are legitimately able to do so at present must be preserved. The Government is alert to the concerns raised and will continue to engage with representatives of the research community about the processing of personal data for medical research purposes under the proposed Regulation.
	Negotiations on the EU data protection framework are ongoing and the final text will be subject to the co-decision of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament under the ordinary legislative procedure. However, negotiations have yet to begin between the Council and the Parliament as the Council has not yet agreed a position on the text.

Magistrates Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of magistrates' use of two year sentencing powers; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: A Detention and Training Order, the main custodial sentence for children and young people, can be up to 24 months in length and is available to magistrates sitting in the Youth Court. The Government has not made an assessment of magistrates use of this order.
	There are a range of disposals available to magistrates when dealing with children and young people which are designed to address offending behaviour. Through our reforms this Government have taken steps to improve the youth sentencing framework.

Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he last met the Minister for Justice in Northern Ireland; and what subjects were discussed at this meeting.

Damian Green: The Lord Chancellor had a meeting with David Ford, the Northern Ireland Justice Minister on 6 February 2013 in Belfast at which they discussed matters of mutual interest in relation to justice policy.

Offences against Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women have been charged with child sex offences but not convicted in each of the last three years.

Simon Hughes: The proportion of offenders given custody for sexual offences has increased since 2003.
	The number of female defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty or not guilty at all courts for sexual offences against children, in England and Wales from 2008 to 2012 (the latest data available), can be viewed in the table.
	Court Proceedings data for calendar year 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014 Charging data is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
	
		
			 Female defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced for sexual offences against children1, England and Wales, 2008-122, 3 
			 Outcome 20084 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Proceeded against 31 43 42 46 50 
			 Found guilty 15 22 24 24 34 
			 Conviction ratio (percentage) 48 51 57 52 68 
			 Sentenced 15 22 24 24 33 
			 Of which:      
			 Immediate custody 8 11 12 13 21 
		
	
	
		
			 Average custodial sentence length (months) 40.5 36.2 26.1 54.6 40.8 
			       
			 Custody rate5 (percentage) 53 50 50 54 64 
			 1 Includes sexual offences against a child where the age of the victim has been recognised: Sexual Offences Act 2003, s1, s5, s6, s7, s8, s9, s10, s11, s12, s14, s15, s16, s17, s18, s19, s25, s26, s47, s48, s49, s50; Criminal Justice Act 1988, s160; Protection of Children Act 1978, s1; Indecency with Children Act 1960, s1; Sexual Offences Act 1956, s28. 2 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. 5 Conviction ratio is calculated as the number of convictions as a proportion of the number of proceedings. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			 Female defendants found not guilty1 of sexual offences against children2, England and Wales, 2008-123, 4 
			  Number 
			 20085 17 
			 2009 14 
			 2010 19 
			 2011 19 
			 2012 21 
			 1 Includes cases where proceedings discontinued, discharged, withdrawn, dismissed at all courts and, at Crown courts only, defendants not tried and acquitted. The number found guilty and found not guilty in a year can be greater than the number proceeded against in that year if they include cases from previous years. 2 Includes sexual offences against a child where the age of the victim has been recognised: Sexual Offences Act 2003, s1, s5, s6, s7, s8, s9, s10, s11, s12, s14, s15, s16, s17, s18, s19, s25, s26, s47, s48, s49, s50; Criminal Justice Act 1988, s160. 3 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 4 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 5 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Offences against Children

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 33 or 41 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the person caused to watch the sexual activity in question was a child, in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 31 or 39 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the person caused or incited to engage in sexual activity was a child, in each of the last four years;
	(3)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 36 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the person who agreed to be present or in a place from which the person committing the offence could be observed was a child, in each of the last four years;
	(4)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 32 or 40 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the person who was present or in a place from which the person committing the offence could be seen was a child, in each of the last four years;
	(5)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 35 or 37 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the person induced, threatened or received was a child in each of the last four years;
	(6)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 30, 34 or 38 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the offence was committed against a child in each of the last four years.

Damian Green: Our laws in these areas are robust and clear. The Government takes very seriously all matters relating to sexual abuse including the abuse of children. The proportion of offenders sentenced who were sentenced to immediate custody rose to 86% in 2012, compared to 58% in 2009.
	The number of defendants found guilty of offences under sections 30 to 41 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, in England and Wales from 2008 to 2012 can be viewed in the table.
	Court proceedings data for England and Wales for 2013 are planned for publication as part of the Criminal Justice Statistics publication in May 2014.
	It is not possible separately to identify the age of the victim from centrally held data or to give figures for each individual offence requested.
	
		
			 Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under Sections 30-41 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, England and Wales, 2008-121, 2, 3 
			 Outcome 20084 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Proceeded against 46 44 62 42 44 
			 Found guilty 19 26 31 30 29 
			 Conviction ratio5 (percentage) 41 59 50 71 66 
			       
			 Sentenced 19 26 29 31 28 
			 Of which:      
			 Immediate custody 14 15 19 21 24 
			 Suspended sentence 2 6 4 3 1 
			 Community sentence 3 3 5 7 3 
			 Fine — — — — — 
			 Conditional discharge — — — — — 
			 Absolute discharge — — — — — 
			 Otherwise dealt with5 — 2 1 — — 
			 Custody rate6(percentage) 74 58 66 68 86 
			 1 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 The number of offenders sentenced can differ from those found guilty as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty in a particular year, and committed for sentence at the Crown court, may be sentenced in the following year. 4 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. 5 Conviction ratio is calculated as the number of convictions as a proportion of the number of proceedings. 6 The proportion of offenders sentenced who are sentenced to immediate custody. Note: The category Otherwise Dealt With (ODW) includes: one day in police cells; disqualification order; restraining order; confiscation order; travel restriction order; disqualification from driving; recommendation for deportation; and other miscellaneous disposals. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Open Prisons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 763W, on open prisons, what offences were committed by each of the offenders in prison for violence against the person.

Jeremy Wright: Open prisons have been used since 1936, because they are the most effective means of ensuring that prisoners are suitably risk-assessed before they are released into the community under appropriate licence conditions. These prisons also provide effective supervision for prisoners who do not require the security conditions of the closed estate, because they have been assessed as having a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of absconding by the independent Parole Board and/or NOMS.
	Indeterminate sentence prisoners located in open conditions have been rigorously risk assessed and categorised as being of a low enough risk to the public to warrant their placement in an open prison. They will have previously spent time in prisons with higher levels of security, before being transferred to open conditions if recommended by the Parole Board—or directed through NOMS. Time spent in open prisons affords prisoners the opportunity to find work, re-establish family ties, reintegrate into the community and ensure housing needs are met. For many prisoners, in particular those, such as indeterminate sentence prisoners who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these are essential components for successful reintegration in the community and therefore an important factor in protecting the public. To release these prisoners directly from a closed prison without the resettlement benefits of the open estate would undoubtedly lead to higher levels of post-release re-offending.
	The requested information is provided in the following table.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			 Prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence in the open estate1 for violence against the person offences, 31 December 2013, England and Wales 
			  Number 
			 Murder 363 
			 Manslaughter 70 
			 Other and attempted homicide 130 
			 Wounding 536 
			 Assaults 4 
			 Cruelty to children 4 
			 Other violence against the person 120 
			 All violence against the person 1,227 
			 1 Based on predominant function of the prison and therefore excludes prisoners held in open wings of closed establishments. Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as withy any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Police Cautions: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many police cautions were issued in Copeland constituency in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Home Department.
	Simple cautions (previously police cautions) are a non-statutory disposal available to the police to dispose of any offence committed by an adult designed for dealing with low level, mainly first time offending. The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police and the CPS when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders
	The Government are clear that serious offences should always be brought to court, and to ensure that there is increased public confidence in the justice system, last year announced changes to stop the use of cautions for indictable only offences and certain serious either way offences unless there are exceptional circumstances and a senior police officer, as well as the CPS for certain cases, has agreed that a caution should be administered.
	The MOJ guidance on Adult Simple Cautions was amended in November last year to reflect these changes, and we are legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place statutory restrictions around their use.
	Information on cautions is not held by parliamentary constituency. This information may be on the police record, which can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Prerogative of Mercy

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether all people who received a Royal Prerogative of Mercy had their names listed in the London Gazette.

Damian Green: There are no statutory requirements relating to the publication of pardons granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. However, by convention, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery places a notice of such pardons granted in England and Wales in the London Gazette.

Prison Accommodation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent purchasing additional prison places from existing privately run prisons in each month since 1 January 2014; from which prisons such additional spaces have been purchased; how many additional spaces were agreed; for how long each such additional space has been purchased for; and what the cost was for each space agreed.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice has purchased the following additional prisoner places (APPs) in existing privately run prisons since February 2014.
	We are unable to provide the cost of APPs at each prison as this information is commercially sensitive.
	We have presented the following information setting out at which prisons the APPs have been purchased since February 2014, and the duration of these places.
	
		
			 Prison Number of places Duration (months) 
			 Altcourse 100 11 
			 Dovegate 73 11 
			 Forest Bank 96 11 
			 Lowdham Grange 32 6 
			 Peterborough (male only) 48 6 
			 Parc 63 9 
			 Total number of places 412

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the required prison officers in post figures are as part of the benchmarking process for each prison; and what the corresponding current full-time equivalent prison officer figures are.

Jeremy Wright: Benchmarking public sector prisons started last summer and concludes by April 2015. The numbers in the following table relate to the prisons in which the process of applying the benchmark, during which the number of prisons officers and all other staff are determined, has been completed.
	Benchmarking is by far the best means of delivering value for money for the public purse (savings of £175 million by 2015-16). It optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prison-facing roles.
	Our benchmarking approach has been agreed with the unions, and it will help the wider strategy of reconfiguring the prison estate which the NAO has commented is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. Benchmarking delivers efficiencies while ensuring that public sector prisons can operate safely, decently and securely.
	
		
			 Benchmark FTE prison officer and prison officer specialists (as at 7 March 2014) 
			 Establishment Benchmark FTE 
			 Bedford 111 
			 Bristol 124 
			 Brixton 122 
			 Bullingdon 173 
			 Bure 116 
			 Cardiff 159 
			 Channings Wood 123 
			 Chelmsford 139 
			 Coldingley 78 
			 Dartmoor 99 
			 Durham 158 
			 Erlestoke 91 
			 Exeter 113 
			 Featherstone 104 
			 Guys Marsh 103 
			 Haverigg 95 
			 Hewell 181 
			 High Down 167 
			 Highpoint 206 
			 Holme House 183 
			 Hull 167 
			 Huntercombe 76 
			 Kennet 45 
			 Leeds 176 
			 Leicester 93 
			 Lewes 143 
			 Lincoln 123 
			 Liverpool 202 
			 Maidstone 86 
			 Norwich 160 
			 Nottingham 168 
			 Onley 108 
			 Pentonville 224 
			 Preston 149 
			 Ranby 163 
			 Risley 160 
			 Rochester 135 
			 Stafford 110 
			 Stocken 129 
			 Stoke Heath 126 
			 Swansea 106 
			 The Mount 144 
			 Usk/Prescoed 61 
			 Wandsworth 241 
			 Wayland 136 
			 Wealstun 155 
			 Whatton 136 
			 Winchester 150 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 198 
			 Wymott 181 
			 Aylesbury 104 
			 Belmarsh 316 
			 Brinsford 148 
			 Deerbolt 102 
			 Garth 161 
			 Gartree 159 
			 Glen Parva 154 
			 Isis 118 
			 Littlehey 193 
		
	
	
		
			 Manchester 328 
			 Portland 112 
			 Swinfen Hall 126 
			 Woodhill 316 
			 Note: Please note these figures are subject to change as a result of further reviews to ensure a safe, decent and secure environment is maintained. 
		
	
	The number of full-time equivalent prison officers employed in each establishment of the Public Sector Prison Service of England and Wales, as at December 2013, is published in the National Offender Management Service workforce statistics at;
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the staff sickness rate has been in (a) the prison estate and (b) HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Sickness absence is measured as the average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year, which is the measure used across all Government Departments.
	Sickness rates in adult prisons have fallen over the last ten years and remain below the rate of 14.8 days lost, across public sector adult prisons, in 2002-03.
	Information on staff sickness rates for High Down and for all prisons in England and Wales are published in Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report. The latest figures, which relate to 2012-13, can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls
	Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July 2014.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the ratio of prison officers to inmates of each gender was in each (a) prison establishment and (b) category of prison in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 261W.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, columns 130-1W, on prisons: disciplinary proceedings, what the sex was of each of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner; and how many employees were disciplined but not dismissed for the same misconduct in the same period, broken down by sex.

Jeremy Wright: The vast majority of Prison Service staff are honest, hard-working professionals. When a member of staff has an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner or ex prisoner, their actions fail to meet the professional standards expected of them in the course of their duty.
	Corruption is taken very seriously and there is no place for it within the Prison Service. Anyone who fails to meet these standards will be dealt with swiftly and robustly.
	Of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner 6 were male and 5 were female.
	From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 there were a total of 6 NOMS employees disciplined for having an 'Inappropriate Relationship with a prisoner/ex prisoner'. Of these, were 3 were male and 3 were female.

Prison Service

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers left Prison Service employment within (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years of becoming an officer in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: Information on the number of prison officers who left employment within the first two years of joining public sector prisons in England and Wales in 2009 to 2013 is contained in the following table.
	
		
			 Headcount of officers leaving public sector prison service in England and Wales within (a) 6 months, (b) 1 year, (c) 2 years 2009-13 
			  Officers leaving within 6 months Officers leaving within 1 year1 Officers leaving within 2 year1 
			 2009 40 100 190 
			 2010 30 60 130 
			 2011 20 50 90 
			 2012 20 40 80 
			 2013 — 20 50 
			 1 Figures are cumulative i.e. the number leaving within one year includes those leaving within 6 months. 
		
	
	Officer numbers, which are derived from a dynamic administrative system, have been rounded to the nearest 10 to reflect the level of uncertainty in the figures.
	It is not possible to provide figures for privately contracted prisons with the time available. This is because information on leavers is held not held centrally and is only available from the individual contractors. This information has been requested and I will write to you again when it is available.

Prisoners

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours per week was spent in (a) education or training, (b) work and (c) cells by prisoners in (i) each prison in England and Wales and (ii) each category of prison in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: The information requested in parts (a) and (b) of the question is set out in Tables 1 and 2 for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, which are the last three years for which this information was collected.
	The information requested in part (c) was provided in my earlier answer on 6 June 2013, Official Report, column 1292, to the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan):
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130606/text/130606w0003.htm#13060674001141
	Figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	Purposeful activity was formerly a performance indicator for prisons, but was discontinued at the start of 2012-13. The indicator was not used in the day-to-day management of prisons and NOMS had concerns over the burden on the frontline of collecting the information. Indicators introduced into prison SLAs in respect of rehabilitation, resettlement and work in prisons provide a better demonstration of the efforts to equip prisoners to be less likely to offend on release.
	Work in prisons is a key priority to ensure prisoners are engaged purposefully while they are in custody. It also gives them the opportunity to learn skills and a work ethic which can increase their chances of finding employment on release, a key element to reducing reoffending.
	The number of prisoners working in industrial activity in public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 to around 9,700 in 2012-13. This delivered an increase in the total hours worked in industrial activities from 10.6 million hours to 13.1 million hours. The average hours per week spent in education has increased since 2010.
	In addition there are substantial numbers of prisoners who work to keep prisons running on tasks such as cooking, serving meals, maintenance and cleaning.
	Our reforms to the Incentives and Earned Privileges national policy framework came into effect in adult prisons on 1 November 2013. Prisoners will be expected to engage in purposeful activity, as well as demonstrate a commitment towards their rehabilitation, reduce their risk of reoffending, behave well and help others if they are to earn privileges.
	Figures are published in the NOMS Annual Report Management Information Addendum:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225225/mi-addendum.pdf
	
		
			 Table 1: Average hours per prisoner per week in education and work by prison category 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			  Average hours of: 
			 Prison category Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week 
			 Category B 7.3 13.5 7.4 13.7 7.6 13.3 
			 Category C 8.5 12.5 8.5 12.7 8.8 12.6 
			 Dispersal 6.2 11.0 6.7 10.8 7.3 11.1 
			 Female closed 6.9 14.4 9.0 14.4 9.2 13.8 
			 Female local 9.1 10.7 9.2 10.7 8.6 10.6 
			 Female open 11.2 13.7 10.9 15.2 10.1 15.5 
			 Male closed young offender 11.3 8.4 11.3 8.4 11.8 7.6 
			 Male juvenile 20.6 3.8 19.5 2.6 18.2 3.1 
			 Male local 5.9 11.0 6.1 11.3 6.3 11.1 
		
	
	
		
			 Male open 8.4 19.3 7.7 19.3 7.6 20.0 
			 Male open young offender 16.9 17.4 18.4 17.8 20.1 17.1 
			 Semi open 8.2 15.2 7.3 17.0 7.4 16.6 
			 Cluster 7.1 13.7 7.2 13.6 6.4 13.4 
			 Note: In the above table prisons are categorised according to their predominant function, though some establishments will have more than one function. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Average hours per prisoner per week in education and work by prison establishment 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			  Average hours of: 
			 Establishment Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week Education per prisoner per week Work per prisoner per week 
			 Acklington 5.94 12.01 6.18 12.69 — — 
			 Albany 5.84 13.62 6.42 15.56 5.73 16.60 
			 Altcourse 12.64 14.67 13.53 13.86 12.45 13.16 
			 Ashfield 23.04 0.75 21.79 0.75 20.13 0.75 
			 Ashwell 11.32 14.81 11.39 15.07 — — 
			 Askham Grange 14.55 11.86 13.39 12.64 12.23 12.58 
			 Aylesbury 7.94 10.31 6.36 10.64 7.88 10.53 
			 Bedford 5.82 7.68 6.10 7.65 5.20 8.15 
			 Belmarsh 4.45 9.04 4.46 10.37 4.82 10.12 
			 Birmingham 6.81 9.80 7.21 10.68 8.02 10.09 
			 Blantyre House 4.53 10.67 4.47 11.19 4.44 13.57 
			 Blundeston 9.01 10.70 8.26 12.17 7.44 11.85 
			 Brinsford 11.63 11.83 11.78 12.33 14.60 11.77 
			 Bristol 4.68 15.99 4.80 16.65 4.36 14.64 
			 Brixton 4.80 7.75 3.65 9.62 3.75 9.75 
			 Bronzefield 8.28 11.27 8.60 11.24 9.53 10.74 
			 Buckley Hall 10.65 12.66 10.81 13.31 9.65 13.87 
			 Bullingdon 6.00 11.78 6.33 12.07 6.65 10.10 
			 Bullwood Hall 9.92 10.99 10.18 10.64 9.87 10.52 
			 Bure — — 11.99 7.06 13.28 8.87 
			 Camp Hill 6.81 12.05 7.43 12.50 7.82 13.38 
			 Canterbury 7.88 8.73 8.81 8.32 9.78 9.57 
			 Cardiff 5.00 12.18 4.24 13.23 3.82 12.87 
			 Castington 11.93 7.65 9.47 8.64 — — 
			 Channings Wood 7.52 11.85 7.17 11.63 7.46 11.65 
			 Chelmsford 7.47 9.11 7.04 9.79 5.98 9.55 
			 Coldingley 5.41 15.27 5.82 15.23 5.53 15.27 
			 Cookham Wood 20.79 2.32 17.66 2.20 18.75 1.88 
			 Dartmoor 5.48 13.41 6.79 13.42 7.45 12.45 
			 Deerbolt 11.25 8.44 10.56 8.78 10.45 10.44 
			 Doncaster 5.37 13.08 4.75 14.09 4.10 12.93 
			 Dorchester 6.74 5.97 7.19 7.29 6.91 8.01 
			 Dovegate 6.68 12.15 6.40 11.86 5.72 11.84 
			 Downview 6.23 16.54 6.57 18.45 6.41 16.14 
			 Drake Hall 7.65 15.49 8.29 17.59 9.57 18.03 
			 Durham 4.87 8.16 5.78 8.20 7.29 8.04 
			 East Sutton Park 6.83 16.08 7.40 18.68 7.28 19.34 
			 Eastwood Park 6.10 8.66 5.13 8.84 5.09 10.03 
			 Edmunds Hill 9.04 9.89 9.57 10.43 — — 
			 Elmley 4.30 11.18 3.98 9.80 4.19 9.87 
			 Erlestoke 9.29 12.01 8.16 12.22 7.52 12.34 
			 Everthorpe 14.58 5.38 13.16 5.98 12.83 6.15 
			 Exeter 5.24 10.37 5.42 10.87 5.59 11.91 
			 Featherstone 6.91 17.86 7.88 16.98 8.62 15.96 
			 Feltham 15.74 3.28 13.22 3.08 12.74 2.17 
			 Ford 8.77 21.07 6.96 20.72 7.18 19.51 
			 Forest Bank 11.65 12.46 10.63 12.84 9.93 13.23 
			 Foston Hall 8.32 12.01 14.13 12.34 14.30 11.56 
			 Frankland 6.20 10.44 6.78 9.78 7.42 9.99 
		
	
	
		
			 Full Sutton 6.89 11.69 7.52 10.70 7.89 11.06 
			 Garth 5.52 13.69 6.23 13.37 5.93 13.76 
			 Gartree 7.07 11.97 7.89 14.38 9.25 15.62 
			 Glen Parva 9.03 6.65 8.81 7.03 8.82 7.02 
			 Gloucester 4.02 11.28 4.68 11.64 4.57 10.73 
			 Grendon 6.27 9.70 6.17 9.88 6.71 8.69 
			 Guys Marsh 7.82 12.90 7.08 14.00 7.09 13.24 
			 Haslar 17.17 2.20 — — — — 
			 Haverigg 7.83 17.09 8.96 16.50 8.18 14.80 
			 Hewell 7.12 13.74 7.17 13.59 6.38 13.36 
			 High Down 5.26 9.84 5.51 11.21 5.40 10.53 
			 Highpoint 5.69 14.14 6.30 14.20 — — 
			 Hindley 22.17 3.29 24.79 1.35 25.80 2.20 
			 Hollesley Bay 8.83 14.17 8.80 13.81 9.16 13.13 
			 Holloway 10.82 7.75 10.78 7.34 9.87 7.49 
			 Holme House 5.67 9.28 5.46 10.14 6.94 11.34 
			 Hull 5.84 10.80 5.13 10.09 5.35 9.65 
			 Huntercombe 18.53 7.13 16.02 8.04 16.23 8.85 
			 Kennet 12.74 8.54 13.19 9.70 12.31 10.30 
			 Kingston 10.26 16.31 13.29 14.43 11.13 14.68 
			 Kirkham 9.85 18.36 8.83 17.55 8.29 20.17 
			 Kirklevington 6.84 17.09 6.74 17.31 6.43 16.13 
			 Lancaster 8.87 10.99 10.92 11.43 — — 
			 Lancaster Farms 13.14 7.09 14.84 6.81 15.25 6.97 
			 Latchmere House 7.79 18.93 7.22 17.38 6.78 17.86 
			 Leeds 4.45 8.74 4.45 9.29 4.07 9.41 
			 Leicester 7.33 6.84 7.69 7.65 8.20 7.31 
			 Lewes 7.53 8.62 7.96 8.99 7.41 8.14 
			 Leyhill 9.25 19.30 8.47 19.25 8.41 19.04 
			 Lincoln 3.52 12.91 3.68 13.30 3.88 12.72 
			 Lindholme 10.95 10.30 10.29 9.50 10.78 9.43 
			 Littlehey 6.78 12.07 7.39 10.41 9.49 10.05 
			 Liverpool 5.57 11.31 5.46 11.69 6.01 11.45 
			 Long Lartin 5.17 12.92 5.56 12.46 6.80 12.33 
			 Low Newton 7.38 10.82 8.75 11.71 8.83 11.99 
			 Lowdham Grange 10.40 14.99 9.66 14.67 10.33 14.83 
			 Maidstone 5.81 17.33 5.52 16.91 5.86 17.22 
			 Manchester 5.77 11.69 6.16 12.32 6.17 13.27 
			 Moorland 12.07 9.20 11.34 10.89 10.28 13.36 
			 Morton Hall 7.60 18.47 8.05 18.34 — — 
			 Mount 8.51 11.75 8.06 12.24 7.47 13.24 
			 New Hall 10.76 13.24 9.67 14.44 9.16 13.10 
			 North Sea Camp 8.64 15.46 8.06 18.18 6.51 18.63 
			 Northallerton 9.43 4.04 10.60 5.14 10.66 4.93 
			 Northumberland — — — — 7.72 10.59 
			 Norwich 7.15 9.64 6.44 12.08 6.19 11.76 
			 Nottingham 4.27 14.89 5.76 14.48 5.50 15.57 
			 Onley 10.14 9.17 10.83 9.62 11.04 9.85 
			 Parc 6.57 16.83 7.81 15.11 9.24 14.59 
			 Parkhurst 6.48 12.86 5.45 12.79 6.56 13.31 
			 Pentonville 3.49 10.15 5.15 9.44 6.37 8.80 
			 Portland 11.93 9.59 13.29 9.42 13.47 8.19 
			 Preston 6.25 11.42 6.60 11.22 6.24 11.59 
			 Ranby 8.11 12.90 8.60 12.92 7.72 13.63 
			 Reading 9.33 9.53 8.61 8.35 9.26 7.42 
			 Risley 6.83 14.65 7.26 16.41 6.91 16.81 
			 Rochester 6.42 12.17 6.84 11.66 7.58 11.32 
			 Rye Hill 7.38 19.46 7.45 17.95 7.79 18.17 
			 Send 6.35 13.83 6.84 12.30 7.27 12.11 
			 Shepton Mallet 8.58 11.51 9.05 11.58 8.49 12.90 
			 Shrewsbury 6.44 12.64 8.66 14.08 9.43 13.80 
		
	
	
		
			 Stafford 8.77 14.39 9.22 14.17 9.38 14.31 
			 Standford Hill 7.45 14.85 7.18 14.52 7.55 15.12 
			 Stocken 9.59 12.71 8.37 14.43 8.16 14.41 
			 Stoke Heath 10.49 10.01 11.02 10.37 10.50 13.34 
			 Styal 9.89 12.20 10.91 11.34 9.94 10.19 
			 Sudbury 6.10 27.10 6.03 27.71 6.37 25.99 
			 Swaleside 9.12 12.38 7.87 13.20 8.12 15.40 
			 Swansea 4.95 10.14 4.82 10.54 4.89 9.81 
			 Swinfen Hall 11.52 10.77 11.57 11.14 9.88 10.32 
			 Thorn Cross 16.94 17.36 18.36 17.81 20.09 17.09 
			 Usk\Prescoed 12.91 11.70 13.38 11.61 11.39 11.11 
			 Verne 7.08 16.17 7.15 16.04 6.91 15.35 
			 Wakefield 6.07 11.07 6.54 11.74 6.74 12.37 
			 Wandsworth 4.91 10.89 5.40 8.99 5.20 9.53 
			 Warren Hill 20.99 3.53 21.64 2.83 21.43 2.38 
			 Wayland 9.26 10.72 9.25 11.75 9.27 12.08 
			 Wealstun 8.99 8.25 8.38 9.01 9.82 9.22 
			 Wellingborough 10.26 9.88 9.00 13.41 8.81 12.88 
			 Werrington 26.70 3.73 23.03 3.77 20.21 3.68 
			 Wetherby 17.25 4.59 15.96 3.81 15.60 4.60 
			 Whatton 7.17 15.03 7.07 15.52 6.94 14.65 
			 Whitemoor 6.69 8.67 7.04 8.99 7.57 9.27 
			 Winchester 3.69 11.53 3.31 11.79 3.73 10.56 
			 Wolds 9.57 12.82 9.34 12.96 10.06 11.75 
			 Woodhill 4.30 12.32 4.89 12.85 6.72 9.76 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 7.34 9.27 5.51 8.52 4.16 8.94 
			 Wymott 5.66 15.73 5.66 15.49 5.50 16.06

Prisoners

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the relationship between trends in (a) the prison population and (b) crime levels in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: In the last 10 years crime has come down and fewer people are committing crimes for the first time. However there is now a hard core of persistent offenders that keep coming back to serve time in our prisons over and over again.
	Prison is an essential part of our criminal justice system—it punishes offences, protects the public from dangerous offenders, sends a strong message about what society is willing to accept, and provides an opportunity for rehabilitation.
	We are currently reorganising the prison estate to put in place an unprecedented nationwide through the prison gate resettlement service meaning that for the first time nearly all offenders will be given continuous support from custody into the community. This package of reforms will provide more effective rehabilitation at better value to the taxpayer and in a way that is sustainable for the future.

Prisoners: China

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what information his Department holds on whether Lin Liang Ren, who served part of his sentence in the UK after being convicted for his part in the Morecambe Bay cockle pickers disaster, is currently incarcerated in China;
	(2)  how many years Lin Mu Yong served in prison in the UK for his part in the Morecambe Bay cockle pickers disaster; and when he was deported to China;
	(3)  what year Lin Liang Ren was deported to China following his conviction relating to the Morecambe Bay cockle pickers disaster; and how many years of his sentence he had served in the UK before that deportation;
	(4)  how many years Zhao Xiao Qing served in prison in the UK for his part in the Morecambe Bay cockle pickers disaster; and when he was deported to China.

Jeremy Wright: Lin Liang Ren served approximately eight years and two months and was subsequently deported from the United Kingdom upon his release in 2012. We have no knowledge of whether he has been arrested and imprisoned in connection with other offences since his deportation to China.
	Lin Mo Yong served approximately three years and five months and was deported from the United Kingdom in 2008.
	Zhao Xiao Qing served approximately one year and was subsequently deported from the United Kingdom upon her release in 2007.
	Each of these prisoners served the minimum period or more required by law before they could be released and deported from the United Kingdom.

Prisoners: Per Capita Costs

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average monthly cost of maintaining someone in prison is.

Jeremy Wright: The Department routinely publishes full details of average costs per prisoner and place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. The most recently published figures are for financial year 2012-13 (1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013). The overall average annual cost per prisoner is £34,766 for financial year 2012-13. This equates to an average monthly cost of £2,897 per prisoner.
	The information for financial year 2012-13 is published as an Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts and available on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
	Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department.
	Between 2009-10 and 2012-13 prison unit costs (direct prison costs only) have reduced in real terms by 10% per place and 8% per prisoner.
	Furthermore, the Government are committed to delivering reform in our public services. The Prison Competition Phase One Programme will deliver efficiency savings, in line with other public sector prisons, over the next four years.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) charges and (b) successful convictions have been brought following assaults against prison staff by prisoners in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: NOMS takes the issue of assaults on prison staff very seriously. It currently has systems in place to deal with perpetrators quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution. It is working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that prisoners who assault staff are charged and punished appropriately.
	NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is tackled in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.
	The number of prisoner on prison officers assault incidents in each year are provided in table 3.8 of the supplementary tables on assaults that accompany each Safety in Custody statistics bulletin. The latest publication can be found at
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-in-custody
	Figures for the number of these incidents that are reported on the centralised administrative system as being referred to the police in each year are provided in table 1. These figures do not represent individuals as there may be multiple assailants in some incidents. How many of these resulted in charges or conviction can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of prisoner on officer assault incidents referred to the police 
			  2010 2011 2012 
			 Prisoner on officer assaults referred to police 374 393 543

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cellular devices have been confiscated from prisons in each of the last five years by establishment.

Jeremy Wright: Since April 2010, prisons have been asked to send all unauthorised phones and SIM cards found to a central unit for interrogation, or to notify the unit if an unauthorised phone or SIM card has been found but not sent for analysis. Data prior to April 2010 is not held centrally and data for 2013 and 2014 is being verified and is not yet available.
	The following table shows the number of seizures of mobile phones and/or SIM cards reported by each prison between April 2010 and December 2012. One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.
	
		
			 Number 
			 Establishment 2010 2011 2012 
			 Acklington 54 28 — 
			 Albany — 3 4 
			 Altcourse (C) 790 609 534 
			 Ashfield(C) 1 2 2 
			 Ashwell 2 7 — 
			 Askham Grange — — 2 
			 Aylesbury 278 97 29 
			 Bedford 27 55 29 
			 Belmarsh 15 25 9 
			 Birmingham 248 537 302 
			 Blantyre House 19 12 4 
			 Blundeston 27 1 11 
			 Brinsford 12 76 45 
			 Bristol 54 33 26 
			 Brixton 46 67 28 
			 Bronzefield (C) 34 12 3 
			 Buckley Hall 11 22 149 
			 Bullingdon 42 16 6 
			 Bullwood Hall 1 8 15 
			 Bure 5 1 — 
			 Camp Hill 98 52 22 
			 Canterbury 22 10 21 
			 Cardiff 19 36 7 
			 Castington 10 11 — 
			 Channings Wood 64 63 15 
			 Chelmsford 42 38 11 
			 Coldingley 37 52 42 
			 Cookham Wood 6 1 1 
			 Dartmoor 27 16 2 
			 Deerbolt 3 15 2 
			 Doncaster(C) 15 6 24 
			 Dorchester 20 14 8 
			 Dovegate (C) 5 24 15 
			 Dover 14 21 10 
			 Downview 5 5 2 
			 Drake Hall 10 2 3 
			 Durham 24 41 23 
		
	
	
		
			 East Sutton Park 1 5 4 
			 Eastwood Park 3 9 1 
			 Edmunds Hill 25 22 — 
			 Elmley 45 47 53 
			 Erlestoke 62 176 137 
			 Everthorpe 50 32 26 
			 Exeter 14 21 15 
			 Featherstone 39 29 133 
			 Feltham 84 65 45 
			 Ford 61 250 200 
			 Forest Bank (C) 122 37 105 
			 Foston Hall — 1 2 
			 Frankland 6 2 7 
			 Full Sutton 10 4 9 
			 Garth 76 32 39 
			 Gartree 14 22 65 
			 Glen Parva 2 4 8 
			 Gloucester 1 4 3 
			 Grendon 17 10 3 
			 Guys Marsh 77 182 175 
			 Haslar — — 2 
			 Hatfield 10 58 154 
			 Haverigg 107 134 291 
			 Hewell 76 289 335 
			 Highdown 23 68 49 
			 Highpoint 80 55 180 
			 Hindley 1 4 6 
			 Hollesley Bay 193 129 90 
			 Holloway 7 7 10 
			 Holme House 18 15 5 
			 Hull 23 25 13 
			 Huntercombe 2 36 9 
			 Isis 8 52 39 
			 Kennet 4 5 9 
			 Kingston 6 — — 
			 Kirkham 273 390 493 
			 Kirklevington Grange 13 15 19 
			 Lancaster Castle 18 — — 
			 Lancaster Farms 89 79 25 
			 Latchmere House 69 40 — 
			 Leeds 53 59 27 
			 Leicester 27 26 15 
			 Lewes 38 46 30 
			 Leyhill 83 27 30 
			 Lincoln 28 33 4 
			 Lindholme 164 96 145 
			 Littlehey 13 34 4 
			 Liverpool 138 118 88 
			 Long Lartin 12 31 77 
			 Low Newton — 3 — 
			 Lowdham Grange (C) 27 10 26 
			 Maidstone 6 34 22 
			 Manchester 41 36 23 
			 Moorland 111 65 13 
			 Moorland Open 10 — — 
			 Morton Hall — 4 5 
			 Mount 86 78 182 
			 New Hall 2 — 1 
			 North Sea Camp 86 63 67 
			 Northallerton — 7 3 
			 Northumberland 9 15 109 
		
	
	
		
			 Norwich 30 15 11 
			 Nottingham 11 38 17 
			 Oakwood — — 33 
			 Onley 53 68 65 
			 Parc (C) 32 79 16 
			 Parkhurst 6 8 20 
			 Pentonville 207 199 124 
			 Peterborough (C) 141 145 60 
			 Portland 24 6 11 
			 Prescoed — 2 4 
			 Preston 18 15 9 
			 Ranby 90 124 300 
			 Reading 12 25 7 
			 Risley 72 12 37 
			 Rochester 6 10 23 
			 Rye Hill (C) 42 79 70 
			 Send 3 12 11 
			 Shepton Mallet 3 7 4 
			 Shrewsbury 3 — — 
			 Spring Hill 12 13 34 
			 Stafford 12 69 14 
			 Standford Hill 150 186 127 
			 Stocken 26 12 30 
			 Stoke Heath 8 28 19 
			 Styal 7 7 9 
			 Sudbury 72 120 124 
			 Swaleside 100 58 107 
			 Swansea 2 — 1 
			 Swinfen Hall 32 44 14 
			 Thameside — — 8 
			 Thorn Cross 74 79 84 
			 Usk 2 1 1 
			 Verne 67 144 161 
			 Wakefield 1 2 3 
			 Wandsworth 157 131 119 
			 Warren Hill 5 10 5 
			 Wayland 20 30 17 
			 Wealstun 57 145 155 
			 Wellingborough 61 195 181 
			 Werrington House 12 4 9 
			 Wetherby 5 3 5 
			 Whatton 9 1 — 
			 Whitemoor 18 28 17 
			 Winchester 39 3 31 
			 Wolds (C) 104 96 44 
			 Woodhill 4 58 74 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 141 267 39 
			 Wymott 58 50 11 
			     
			 Total 6,756 7,789 7,301 
			 Note: All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 
			 Note: All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many mobile telephones have been found in prisons in England and Wales, by establishment, in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service takes the issues of mobile phones in prison seriously and is committed to addressing the risks that they present. Part of its response is to deploy technology in prisons that prevents mobile phones from working.
	The Government has supported the Prisons Interference with the Wireless Telegraphy Act which came into force on 21 October 2013. This Act creates clear statutory powers to enable all prisons to use signal denial technology to suppress the use of wireless telegraphy such as mobile phones by prisoners.
	A range of mobile signal denial technology was trialled in a small number of prisons. The trials demonstrated that the equipment is capable of denying signals to illicit mobile phones within the prison perimeter as required by law and Ofcom regulations. NOMS has since distributed 300 short range portable blockers around the prison estate.
	Since April 2010, prisons have been asked to send all unauthorised phones and SIM cards found to a central unit for interrogation, or to notify the unit if an unauthorised phone or SIM card has been found but not sent for analysis. Data prior to April 2010 are not held centrally and data for 2013 and 2014 are being verified and are not yet available.
	The following table shows the number seizures of mobile phones and/or SIM cards reported by each prison between April 2010 and December 2012. One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.
	
		
			 Establishment 2010 2011 2012 
			 Acklington 54 28 — 
			 Albany — 3 4 
			 Altcourse (C) 790 609 534 
			 Ashfield (C) 1 2 2 
			 Ashwell 2 7 — 
			 Askham Grange — — 2 
			 Aylesbury 278 97 29 
			 Bedford 27 55 29 
			 Belmarsh 15 25 9 
			 Birmingham 248 537 302 
			 Blantyre House 19 12 4 
			 Blundeston 27 1 11 
			 Brinsford 12 76 45 
			 Bristol 54 33 26 
			 Brixton 46 67 28 
			 Bronzefield (C) 34 12 3 
			 Buckley Hall 11 22 149 
			 Bullingdon 42 16 6 
			 Bullwood Hall 1 8 15 
			 Bure 5 1 — 
			 Camp Hill 98 52 22 
			 Canterbury 22 10 21 
			 Cardiff 19 36 7 
			 Castington 10 11 — 
			 Channings Wood 64 63 15 
			 Chelmsford 42 38 11 
			 Coldingley 37 52 42 
			 Cookham Wood 6 1 1 
			 Dartmoor 27 16 2 
			 Deerbolt 3 15 2 
			 Doncaster (C) 15 6 24 
			 Dorchester 20 14 8 
		
	
	
		
			 Dovegate (C) 5 24 15 
			 Dover 14 21 10 
			 Downview 5 5 2 
			 Drake Hall 10 2 3 
			 Durham 24 41 23 
			 East Sutton Park 1 5 4 
			 Eastwood Park 3 9 1 
			 Edmunds Hill 25 22 — 
			 Elmley 45 47 53 
			 Erlestoke 62 176 137 
			 Everthorpe 50 32 26 
			 Exeter 14 21 15 
			 Featherstone 39 29 133 
			 Feltham 84 65 45 
			 Ford 61 250 200 
			 Forest Bank (C) 122 37 105 
			 Foston Hall — 1 2 
			 Frankland 6 2 7 
			 Full Sutton 10 4 9 
			 Garth 76 32 39 
			 Gartree 14 22 65 
			 Glen Parva 2 4 8 
			 Gloucester 1 4 3 
			 Grendon 17 10 3 
			 Guys Marsh 77 182 175 
			 Haslar — — 2 
			 Hatfield 10 58 154 
			 Haverigg 107 134 291 
			 Hewell 76 289 335 
			 Highdown 23 68 49 
			 Highpoint 80 55 180 
			 Hindley 1 4 6 
			 Hollesley Bay 193 129 90 
			 Holloway 7 7 10 
			 Holme House 18 15 5 
			 Hull 23 25 13 
			 Huntercombe 2 36 9 
			 Isis 8 52 39 
			 Kennet 4 5 9 
			 Kingston 6 — — 
			 Kirkham 273 390 493 
			 Kirklevington Grange 13 15 19 
			 Lancaster Castle 18 — — 
			 Lancaster Farms 89 79 25 
			 Latchmere House 69 40 — 
			 Leeds 53 59 27 
			 Leicester 27 26 15 
			 Lewes 38 46 30 
			 Leyhill 83 27 30 
			 Lincoln 28 33 4 
			 Lindholme 164 96 145 
			 Littlehey 13 34 4 
			 Liverpool 138 118 88 
			 Long Lartin 12 31 77 
			 Low Newton — 3 — 
			 Lowdham Grange (C) 27 10 26 
			 Maidstone 6 34 22 
			 Manchester 41 36 23 
			 Moorland 111 65 13 
			 Moorland Open 10 — — 
			 Morton Hall — 4 5 
			 Mount 86 78 182 
			 New Hall 2 — 1 
			 North Sea Camp 86 63 67 
		
	
	
		
			 Northallerton — 7 3 
			 Northumberland 9 15 109 
			 Norwich 30 15 11 
			 Nottingham 11 38 17 
			 Oakwood — — 33 
			 Onley 53 68 65 
			 Parc (C) 32 79 16 
			 Parkhurst 6 8 20 
			 Pentonville 207 199 124 
			 Peterborough (C) 141 145 60 
			 Portland 24 6 11 
			 Prescoed — 2 4 
			 Preston 18 15 9 
			 Ranby 90 124 300 
			 Reading 12 25 7 
			 Risley 72 12 37 
			 Rochester 6 10 23 
			 Rye Hill (C) 42 79 70 
			 Send 3 12 11 
			 Shepton Mallet 3 7 4 
			 Shrewsbury 3 — — 
			 Spring Hill 12 13 34 
			 Stafford 12 69 14 
			 Standford Hill 150 186 127 
			 Stocken 26 12 30 
			 Stoke Heath 8 28 19 
			 Styal 7 7 9 
			 Sudbury 72 120 124 
			 Swaleside 100 58 107 
			 Swansea 2 — 1 
			 Swinfen Hall 32 44 14 
			 Thameside — — 8 
			 Thorn Cross 74 79 84 
			 Usk 2 1 1 
			 Verne 67 144 161 
			 Wakefield 1 2 3 
			 Wandsworth 157 131 119 
			 Warren Hill 5 10 5 
			 Wayland 20 30 17 
			 Wealstun 57 145 155 
			 Wellingborough 61 195 181 
			 Werrington House 12 4 9 
			 Wetherby 5 3 5 
			 Whatton 9 1 — 
			 Whitemoor 18 28 17 
			 Winchester 39 3 31 
			 Wolds (C) 104 96 44 
			 Woodhill 4 58 74 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 141 267 39 
			 Wymott 58 50 11 
			 Total 6,756 7,789 7,301 
		
	
	All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

Prisons: Seized Articles

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many seizures of (a) class A drugs, (b) mobile telephones and (c) knives there were in each high security prison in 2013.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of all contraband in prisons extremely seriously and deploys a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. These include targeted searching, random and targeted mandatory drug tests, the use of x-ray machines and CCTV surveillance cameras, Body Orifice Security Scanners to detect contraband secreted internally, and the imposition of closed (non-contact) visits. Prisoners found with prohibited items face swift and robust punishment. This can include having days added to their custody, being transferred to a different prison and losing privileges.
	NOMS records seizures of heroin and cocaine in prisons on its Incident Reporting System (IRS). Seizures of any other class A drug are recorded in a miscellaneous category alongside seizures of other drugs and drug taking paraphernalia. To disaggregate the seizures of other class A drugs from other seizures recorded in the miscellaneous category would require a manual inspection of each record and would incur disproportionate costs for each area inquired of.
	Similarly, seizures of knives and other bladed weapons are also recorded in a miscellaneous category on the IRS, alongside seizures of other contraband, and can only be extracted through a manual inspection of each record. For six of the areas enquired of, such an inspection would incur disproportionate costs.
	Data relating to mobile phones seized in prisons in 2013 is being verified and is therefore not available for this response.
	The following table gives the number of seizures of heroin, cocaine and knives (including bladed improvised weapons and individual blades) seized in each prison in each area in 2013, where extracting the data would not incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Establishment area Establishment seizures of cocaine seizures of heroin Seizures of knives 
			 High Security (197706) Belmarsh 0 0 1 
			  Frankland 0 0 9 
			  Manchester 1 7 19 
			  Whitemoor 0 0 2 
			      
			 West Midlands (197707) Birmingham 3 9 Disproportionate costs 
			  Dovegate 0 1  
			  Featherstone 1 6  
		
	
	
		
			  Hewell 2 2  
			  Oakwood 3 4  
			  Stafford 0 5  
			      
			 London (197708) Bronzefield 0 1 Disproportionate costs 
			  Feltham 1 0  
			  Pentonville 3 1  
			  Thameside 3 3  
			  Wandsworth 0 2  
			  Wormwood Scrubs 2 5  
			      
			 Wales (197709) Cardiff 1 4 0 
			  Parc 1 2 0 
			  Swansea 0 6 0 
			      
			 Kent and Sussex (197710) Elmley 0 0 9 
			  Ford 3 0 5 
			  Lewes 1 5 4 
			  Maidstone 1 0 0 
			  Rochester 0 1 1 
			  Standford Hill 0 3 0 
			  Swaleside 1 0 0 
			      
			 North East (197854) Deerbolt 0 1 0 
			  Durham 0 1 0 
			  Holme House 2 2 0 
			  Kirklevington Grange 1 1 0 
			  Low Newton 0 4 0 
			  Northumberland 1 0 5 
			      
			 Eastern (197855) Chelmsford 4 4 Disproportionate costs 
			  Highpoint 3 8  
			  The Mount 1 6  
			  Bedford 0 3  
			  Littlehey 0 1  
			  Peterborough Female 0 6  
			  Peterborough Male 0 6  
			  Wayland 0 1  
			      
			 Yorkshire and Humberside (197856) Doncaster 1 1 Disproportionate costs 
			  Everthorpe 0 4  
			  Hull 0 1  
			  Leeds 0 2  
			  Lindholme 3 0  
			  Wealstun 0 1  
			  Wolds 0 1  
			      
			 South Central (197857) Bullingdon 2 5 2 
			  Isle of Wight 0 1 0 
			      
			 East Midlands (197858) Foston Hall 0 2 Disproportionate costs 
			  Glen Parva 1 0  
			  Leicester 1 4  
			  Lincoln 0 2  
			  Lowdham Grange 1 1  
		
	
	
		
			  Morton Hall 1 0  
			  Nottingham 0 5  
			  Ranby 1 1  
			  Rye Hill 8 9  
			  Stocken 2 0  
			  Whatton 1 0  
			      
			 South West (197859) Bristol 1 0 0 
			  Dartmoor 0 0 1 
			  Dorchester 0 4 0 
			  Eastwood Park 1 3 0 
			  Erlestoke 0 0 2 
			  Exeter 0 7 1 
			  Guys Marsh 0 2 1 
			      
			 North West (197860) Altcourse 4 9 Disproportionate costs 
			  Buckley Hall 3 0  
			  Forest Bank 3 11  
			  Garth 0 5  
			  Haverigg 3 4  
			  Kennet 1 0  
			  Kirkham 2 3  
			  Preston 0 7  
			  Risley 1 1  
			  Styal 0 3  
		
	
	It is important to note that many drugs are similar in appearance and in many cases drugs seized are not categorically identified by scientific analysis. Some will have been identified using indicative reagent or Marquis tests. Many will have been identified by appearance only.
	All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.

Probation

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  on what date contracts for probation work will be signed; and when operations will go live;
	(2)  what the close of tender date will be for the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda;
	(3)  what criteria will be used to identify preferred bidders for probation contracts;
	(4)  what risks arising from the outsourcing of probation contracts bidders in the process of transition have brought to the attention of his Department.

Jeremy Wright: Under our Transforming Rehabilitation proposals we are opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers across the public, private and voluntary sectors to bring innovation to rehabilitative services and help deliver reductions in reoffending rates. We are currently engaged in a competition to appoint the 21 owners of the new community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) which will be responsible for the provision of services to all but those offenders which pose the highest risk. We will assess the bids we receive over the summer, and appoint CRC owners later this year. Offers will be evaluated using quality and financial criteria. We expect the new owners to implement their new operating models during 2015.
	We are taking a staged approach to implementation and are rolling out business readiness tests at key stages of implementation so that we can ensure we are managing the transition to the new system in a safe and measured way which maintains public protection.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) special advisers have had with (i) G4S, (ii) Serco, (iii) Sodexo, (iv) A4E, (v) Capita, (vi) Mitie, (vii) GEOAmey and (viii) Working Links since September 2013; what the dates of each such meeting were; and what was discussed at each meeting.

Jeremy Wright: All meetings with external organisations up until October 2013 are published by the Cabinet Office on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications
	Details of meetings from October 2013 onwards will be published shortly. In addition, I can confirm that special advisers have not attended any meetings independently from Ministers.

Prosecutions

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of time is between a defendant being charged and the first day of proceedings in court in cases of (a) domestic violence, (b) sexual abuse and (c) rape.

Damian Green: The Government are committed to modernising courts and using technology to improve efficiency.
	The average (median) number of days taken from charge to first listing in court for completed criminal cases (domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape) in England and Wales, annually 2010-13, is shown in table 1.
	The way in which offence level data is collected and reported means that some offences are not separately identifiable from others. The information presented in table 1 relates only to those offences which can be separately identified from others and relates specifically to the legislation listed under a given category. Statistics on domestic violence have not been provided due to the reason outlined above and therefore excluded from table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1: Average (median) number of days taken from charge to first listing for all completed criminal cases, in England and Wales, annually 2010-131, 2, 3, 4 
			  Sexual abuse5 Rape6 
			  Defendants Charge or laying of information to first listing (days) Defendants Charge or laying of information to first listing (days) 
			  Number Median Number Median 
			 2010 Q2-47 3,757 11 1,370 2 
			 2011 4,825 12 2,125 6 
			 2012 4,370 13 2,107 2 
			 2013 4,097 15 2,099 2 
			 1 Excludes breaches and cases with an offence to completion time greater than 10 years. 2 Statistics are sourced from linked magistrates courts and Crown court administrative data systems—with a match rate of around 95%. 3 Only one offence is counted for each defendant in the case. If there is more than one offence per defendant that complete on the same day, a set of validation rules applies to select one offence only and these relate to the longest duration, seriousness and the lowest sequence number of the offence. 4 Included all criminal cases which have received a verdict and concluded in the specified time period, in either the magistrates courts or the Crown court. 5 Sexual abuse offences refer to the sum of the detailed offences such as sexual assault, sexual activity and familial sexual offences under Sexual Offences Act 2003. 6 Rape offences refer to the sum of the detailed offences such as rape and attempted rape under Sexual Offences Act 2003. 7 Timeliness figures are only available from April 2010, so data for 2010 is presented above for Q2 to Q4 only. Source: Criminal Court Statistics, Justice Statistics Analytical Services.

Remand in Custody

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 406W, on remand in custody, what proportion of the total number of defendants charged with the relevant offences the figures represent.

Jeremy Wright: The following table shows the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence groups and the number of defendants who were remanded in custody, broken down by sex. It also shows the percentage of defendants remanded in custody out of the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence categories.
	
		
			 Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, by remand status, offence group and sex, England and Wales, 20121, 2 
			 Percentage of total proceeded against 
			 Offence group Remand status Male Female Total Male Female Total 
			 Violence Against the Person3 Custody4 6,867 401 7,268 17.7 1.0 18.7 
			  Total proceeded against 33,975 4,834 38,809 87.5 12.5 100.0 
			 Public Order Offences3 Custody4 1,508 112 1,620 8.5 0.6 9.1 
			  Total proceeded against 15,836 1,957 17,793 89.0 11.0 100.0 
			 Harassment Offences5 Custody4 2,060 78 2,138 10.3 0.4 10.7 
			  Total proceeded against 17,701 2,235 19,936 88.8 11.2 100.0 
			 1 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 2 Magistrates courts data for 2012 are estimated. 3 Based on new Office for National Statistics (ONS) crime classifications. For further detail see: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/crime-statistics-methodology/presentational-changes-on-police-recorded-crime-in-england-and-wales.pdf 4 Includes those remanded in custody at any stage of proceedings at the magistrates court who may also have been given bail at some stage of those proceedings. 5 Includes offences under S.2, S.2A(1), S.3, S.4, S.4A(1)(a)(b)(i), S.4A(1)(a)(b)(ii), S.5, SS.5A(2) & 5(5) and (6) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and S.31(1)(b) and (4), S.31(1)(c) and (4) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and S.42A of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of offenders who (a) breached their licence conditions and (b) re-offended while on licence were recalled to prison in each year since 2008.

Jeremy Wright: For offenders, the period of post-release supervision on licence forms an integral part of a sentence imposed by the court. The overriding priority is to protect the public from harm and prevent re-offending.
	Recall of offenders on licence is designed to protect the public by removing an offender from the community who, by breaching his licence conditions, is considered to present an increased risk of re-offending and where probation officers recommend that this is the most effective response to that increased risk, in order to protect the public.
	Behaviour that can result in recall includes: the commission of further offences or charges being laid; behaviour which indicates that further offending is imminent; or breaches of licence conditions which undermine the Probation Service’s ability to provide effective supervision, such as not living at the address stipulated on the licence or failing to attend probation appointments.
	Data on those offenders who had committed minor breaches of licence, were warned, and not recalled to prison are not collected centrally.
	Those offenders whose breach of licence has resulted in a recall to prison are published quarterly in the Ministry of Justice’s Offender management statistics bulletin. This may be found at the following web address:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
	These are data are also shown in the following table. Also included in the table are data on the reasons for recall. Data on reasons for recall before the year 2011-12 was not reliably recorded on the central IT system and as such, are not available.
	
		
			  Recall for breach of licence conditions Recall following further charges Recalls to prison 
			 2007-08 n/a n/a 13,252 
		
	
	
		
			 2008-09 n/a n/a 13,467 
			 2009-10 n/a n/a 15,004 
			 2010-11 n/a n/a 15,631 
			 2011-12 11,428 15,163 16,591 
			 2012-13 10,677 15,630 16,307 
			 2013-14 (April to September) 5,693 13,154 8,847 
			 1 The data on recall on grounds of further charges includes those cases where further charges were not proceeded with.

Sentencing: West Yorkshire

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people of each gender were sentenced in the West Yorkshire police force area to immediate custody for a first offence in each year since 2008; and for which offences such people were sentenced.

Jeremy Wright: The sentencing framework and sentencing guidelines apply equally to all offenders. Sentencing is entirely a matter for the courts, taking account of all the circumstances of each case. This will include the seriousness of the offence, including all aggravating and mitigating factors, and a guilty plea.
	Defendants are now more likely to be convicted for committing crime and sent to prison for longer than they were a decade ago. In addition, criminals convicted since 2010 are more likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence, both overall and for a first time offence.
	Table 1 shows the number of offenders given an immediate custodial sentence in the West Yorkshire police force area for their first offence, by offence class and gender 2008-13.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of first time entrants1 who received immediate custody for their first offence by offence class and gender2, West Yorkshire police force area, 12 months ending September 2008 to 12 months ending September 2013 
			 Number 
			  12-month period to the end of December: 
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Offence class Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male 
			 Violence against the person 8 45 7 55 7 45 8 36 6 40 1 34 
			 Sexual offences 1 53 0 35 2 43 0 41 1 50 0 43 
			 Robbery 1 13 1 17 0 12 0 19 3 19 0 8 
			 Theft Offences 5 13 6 14 5 16 9 14 5 15 5 6 
			 Criminal damage and arson 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 2 1 1 1 2 
			 Drug offences 3 58 6 56 7 61 5 66 2 64 2 28 
			 Possession of weapons 0 3 0 5 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 
			 Public order offences 0 10 0 5 0 2 0 3 0 5 0 9 
			 Miscellaneous crimes against society 9 36 6 38 6 39 8 41 5 34 2 20 
			 Freud offences 1 7 4 12 1 15 8 20 8 17 1 9 
			 Summary non Motoring 0 3 0 4 0 3 1 2 0 5 0 2 
			 Summary motoring 0 6 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 
		
	
	
		
			 All offences 28 248 31 245 28 245 33 246 31 251 12 163 
			 1 First time entrants are offenders who received their first reprimand, warning, caution or conviction for a recordable offence committed in England and Wales. Offenders who were resident outside of England and Wales at the time of their first conviction, caution, reprimand or warning are not counted in these statistics. Additionally, non-recordable offences (i.e. TV licence evasion, driving without insurance) are not recorded on the police national computer and therefore not counted. Where an offender was dealt with for multiple offences on the same occasion, the primary offence as recorded on the police national computer has been counted in the above table. 2 Offenders whose gender is unknown, has not been included in the above table. Note: All data have been taken from the MOJ extract of the police national computer. This includes details of all convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings given for recordable offences, see www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/1139/schedule/made_for_definition It is therefore possible that some offenders presented in the table above have previously also received convictions for offences not recorded on the PNC. Some less serious offences that do not attract a custodial sentence are also included on the PNC, usually when accompanied by a recordable offence in the same case. Source: Ministry of Justice, Police National Computer (PNC).

Victim Support

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress he has made on plans to extend the funding of Victim Support beyond 2015.

Damian Green: The Ministry of Justice is extending grant funding arrangements to March 2015, for the provision of its core victims’ support service. These extended arrangements will cover all areas until October 2014, when a small number of Police and Crime Commissioners will move out of MOJ grant arrangements with Victim Support. The remaining majority of areas will continue to be covered by the grant funding arrangements until end March 2015.
	From April 2015, the MOJ grant arrangement with Victim Support for its core service will end as all Police and Crime Commissioners replace the MOJ grant arrangement with Victim Support with locally commissioned arrangements for support to victims. These arrangements may include Police and Crime Commissioner commissioning services from Victim Support, but are not restricted to this.
	Some national services, including the national homicide service, the court-based witness service, the rape support fund, and some telephone helplines will remain nationally commissioned by the Ministry of Justice. Victim Support is the current provider of some of these services and is able to compete for future provision of these services.

Youth Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions magistrates in youth courts handed down maximum two-year sentences in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: There is a separate and distinct youth justice system, including a different sentencing framework. The Detention and Training Order is the main custodial sentence for children and young people and the only custodial sentence available in the youth court.
	Detention and Training Orders are available for persistent and serious offending committed by children and young people under 18-years-old. When determining the length of sentence, courts must have regard to the specific Sentencing Council guideline for young people. This includes factors such as the age, maturity and culpability of the young offender as well as the seriousness of the offence.
	Data on the number of Detention and Training Orders given by magistrates alone (not including district judges) in the youth court is not held centrally. However data on the number of children and young people aged 12 to 17 given a Detention and Training Order of 24 months in length in the youth court is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Juveniles sentenced to the maximum custodial sentence of two years at magistrates' courts, England and Wales, 2008-12 
			  2 year sentence 
			 2008 21 
			 2009 16 
			 2010 20 
			 2011 29 
			 2012 15 
			 Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices: Pay

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will commission research into whether the rate of pay for apprentices under 18 years is a disincentive.

Jennifer Willott: The last Apprentice Pay Survey was published in 2012. The Government has recently commissioned a new Apprentice Pay Survey. This will provide a complete overview of Apprentice pay in Great Britain by autumn 2014. In addition it is now possible to specifically identify information relating to apprentices within the large Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
	Apprentice pay is reviewed annually by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) as part of their review of the Apprentice National Minimum Wage. Since its introduction in 2010 the LPC has not found any evidence that the Apprentice rate damaged employment levels.
	The Government has recently accepted the LPC's recommendation to increase the Apprentice rate by 2% to £2.73 per hour. In the judgment of the LPC a higher rate would risk damaging employment of Apprentices. Research shows that in reality the majority of employers pay more – the average pay for apprentices in 2012 is £200 per week (England only).
	The Apprentice minimum wage recognises that employers invest significantly in apprenticeships and may be put off recruiting apprentices due to their lack of experience in the workplace and the additional training costs involved. Young people who complete an Apprenticeship derive significant long-term advantages and their investment in training has clear benefits.

Business: Cumbria

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support the Government is giving to small and medium-sized businesses in Cumbria.

Matthew Hancock: We continue to work hard to provide the right support to make life easier for small and medium sized business everywhere.
	The home for Government services and information online is
	www.gov.uk
	One of the tools available is the 'Finance and Support Finder;' a searchable database of publicly-backed sources of finance and business support. The website
	www.greatbusiness.gov.uk
	also provides support and advice for anyone trying to start or grow a business.
	In addition to online support, the Business Support Helpline is available to provide a quick response on queries about starting a business, or a personalised and in-depth advice service for more complex needs.
	Cumbria has benefitted from a number of support schemes. The Start-Up Loan Scheme has provided business advice and 43 loans with a value of £275,000 to people starting a business. Since May 2010, 165 companies have benefitted from the Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme with a drawn down value of £12.1 million. 470 employer workplaces have received payments to take on an Apprentice’s through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers Scheme (AGE 16-24).

Business: Registration

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people registered a business (a) online and (b) offline in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.

Michael Fallon: There is no register containing every business in the UK. The Companies House register provides information on a subset of businesses required to file information with the registrar of companies; for example, those businesses that incorporate as companies or limited liability partnerships or register as limited partnerships. Not all of the companies that register with Companies House are businesses or go on to become actively trading businesses.
	Companies House statistics show that in the years in question the following numbers of companies were registered (a) online and (b) offline:
	
		
			  2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 Online 366,051 437,441 470,800 
			 Offline 34,504 18,208 11,995 
			 Total 400,555 455,649 482,795

Construction

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 312W, on building regulations, what assessment he has made of the cybersecurity implications of the Building Information Modelling Smart City project.

David Willetts: The next phase of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) programme will include provision for data interaction between designs created using BIM and other interfaces, such as Smart Cities. The potential for this to give rise to security issues has been considered as part of the base design, and this phase will incorporate a secure but workable approach developed in conjunction with partners inside and outside of Government.

Direct Selling

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to protect consumers from fraud and other doorstep crimes.

Jennifer Willott: The Government take doorstep crime very seriously and the issue has been identified as a top priority by the Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP) which brings together enforcement, consumer education, and advocacy partners to identify, prioritise and coordinate collective action to tackle the issues causing greatest harm to consumers.
	Both the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), which are funded by BIS, are putting resources into tackling doorstep crime and Trading Standards Officers across the country are cracking down on these fraudsters. In Lincolnshire for example, Trading Standards has teamed up with the Police and Community Lincs to raise awareness of doorstep crime amongst professionals caring for the elderly, including awareness of bogus callers, rogue traders, distraction burglary, and scam mail. To date 330 health and social care professionals who work regularly with 4,300 elderly and vulnerable people have been trained in how to spot potential victims and how to intervene at an early stage of a scam.
	Doorstep Crime will also be the focus on this year’s National Consumer Week in November 2014, when CPP Partners and the Government will work together to in raise consumer awareness of how to spot a bogus salesperson and where to report it.
	We are also hitting the perpetrators of fraud hard. A recent operation involving Trading Standards companies across the country and 20 police forces brought down a trio of fraudsters targeting vulnerable caravan park residents across the country. This resulted in six years of custodial sentences being handed down and the recovery of £20,000 in cash.
	We encourage anyone who believes that they have been the victim of doorstep crime or fraud to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer helpline on 08454 040506.

Respite Care

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

Jennifer Willott: Departmental records show that in each of the last five financial years, no funding was made in respect of supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Herefordshire

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total value is of Common Agricultural Policy payments to farms in Herefordshire in the last five years for which data are available.

George Eustice: Our records do not currently distinguish between farms and other claimants; the figure provided relates to all eligible claimants paid (including farms).
	The total value of all Common Agricultural Policy claims paid by the Rural Payments Agency and the Forestry Commission to all claimants with a registered address in Herefordshire during the five years up to 15 October 2013 was €261,476,438.25.

Birds

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to catch and control magpies and hooded crows.

George Eustice: DEFRA is not taking action to catch or control magpies or hooded crows.
	Like all wild birds in Great Britain, magpies and hooded crows are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
	Within England, general licences are issued by Natural England permitting users to kill or take magpies for a range of purposes, such as the protection of public health and safety. These may be relied upon by landowners and other authorised persons as long as they are satisfied they have met the conditions of the licence.
	In the UK, the hooded crow is found primarily in Scotland and Northern Ireland and is not normally resident in England. As nature conservation is a devolved matter, the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government should be approached regarding their wildlife legislation and policy for the control of magpies and hooded crows.

Common Agricultural Policy

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to his answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 208W, on Common Agricultural Policy, if he will assess the value and purpose of advertising the merits of the EU Common Agricultural Policy in British cinemas.

George Eustice: We do not have any plans to assess the value and purpose of advertising the merits of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in British cinemas. Using cinema advertising is not part of the Government’s approach to communicating information on the CAP. My Department is informed by the European Commission that the advert ran for four weeks across the EU, including in the UK, but it has now ended and that the campaign was funded by reducing other activities, such as European Commission attendance at certain events.

Deer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of ticks in deer; and what steps he is taking to tackle ticks in deer.

George Eustice: DEFRA has not made an assessment of the prevalence of ticks in deer but I am aware that they are widespread. The Deer Initiative, which is part funded by DEFRA, provides advice on ticks on its website.

Forests

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will bring forward legislative proposals to protect the UK's forests.

Dan Rogerson: Forestry is a devolved matter. As far as public forests in England are concerned, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 394W, to the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire).

Mangos: India

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions, he has had with (a) EU officials, (b) Indian authorities and (c) affected UK businesses regarding the European Commission's ban on the import of Indian mangos.

Dan Rogerson: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has met with the Indian high commissioner to discuss the ban on imports of mangos from India and will be working with the European Commission and other member states to facilitate a lifting of the ban subject to the necessary plant health standards being achieved. DEFRA officials have discussed the issue with the main trade association, the Fresh Produce Consortium, both prior to and following the introduction of the ban and also recently with the National Asian Business Network.

Mink

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to control mink.

George Eustice: The Government are not undertaking any nationwide action to control mink. However, landowners are free to control mink on their land as long as they do so humanely and within the law. Advice on controlling mink can be obtained from Natural England. As a non-native species, it is an offence to release mink into the wild and I would encourage landowners to control them wherever practical.
	The Environment Agency is not directly involved in any mink control programmes in England. It does, however, contribute a small amount of annual funding to the Wildlife Trusts and some other local organisations towards the cost of local water vole conservation projects. Some of these projects may involve an element of mink control. The Environment Agency is one of a number of contributors to these projects.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission independent research to analyse the effectiveness of a voluntary approach to disability awareness training for bus staff.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport is currently reviewing the use of a derogation applied under EU Regulation 181/2011 (concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport) exempting bus and coach drivers from undertaking mandatory disability awareness training.
	To inform this review, on 24 February 2014 my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, wrote to various bus industry representatives, disability groups and charities with an interest in disability awareness training requesting information on the structure and effectiveness of disability awareness training courses currently available.
	The commissioning of further research on this subject is one of a number of options the Department is considering in response to the findings of the review. Once we have considered all responses to the review, we will provide further details on how the Department intends to proceed shortly.

Bus Services: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions officials or Ministers of his Department have had with bus company representatives on disability awareness training and EU Regulation 181/2011 since 9 January 2014.

Stephen Hammond: Although there have been no meetings between Department for Transport Ministers or officials and bus company representatives specifically focusing on disability awareness training or EU Regulation 181/2011 since 9 January, the Minister of State for Transport, my noble Friend Baroness Kramer, has met bus industry representatives on a number of occasions to discuss a variety of issues, including bus accessibility. More specifically, on 27 March 2014, Baroness Kramer attended the launch of the new RNIB ‘We’re on Board’ bus charter and gave a speech highlighting the importance of disability awareness training to an audience including several bus operators.
	In addition, on 24 February 2014, as part of the Department’s review of the derogation applied under EU Regulation 181/2011 exempting bus and coach drivers from undertaking mandatory disability awareness training, Baroness Kramer wrote to the Confederation for Passenger Transport (CPT) requesting information on the structure and effectiveness of disability awareness training courses currently offered and sought an update on the percentage of drivers that have completed this important training.

Bus Services: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how his Department plans to monitor voluntary compliance with disability awareness training by bus and coach companies.

Stephen Hammond: In March 2013, the Department for Transport applied a number of time-limited exemptions available within EU Regulation 181/2011 (concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport) including one from the requirement for drivers to undertake mandatory disability awareness training.
	Before taking this decision, the Department requested information from the Confederation of Passenger Transport (trade association for the bus and coach industry) on the percentage of bus and coach drivers that had completed some form of disability awareness training. The information provided suggested that this figure was approximately 75% in March 2013.
	On 24 February 2014, my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer wrote again to the Confederation for Passenger Transport, seeking an update on the percentage of drivers that have completed disability awareness training. This updated information is being used to inform the Department’s current review of the disability awareness training exemption and will be made available shortly when the Department announces the outcome of this review.
	As part of the review, Ministers will consider what the appropriate future monitoring arrangements should be.

Bus Services: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions officials and Ministers in his Department have had with disability or transport groups on bus driver awareness training and EU Regulation 181/2011 since 9 January 2014.

Stephen Hammond: On 18 March 2014 my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, met representatives from ‘Transport for All’ to discuss a range of bus accessibility issues, including disability awareness training and EU Regulation 181/2011. Furthermore, on 27 March 2014, Baroness Kramer attended the launch of the new RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) ‘We’re on Board’ bus charter and gave a speech highlighting the importance of disability awareness training to an audience including disability campaigners.
	On 24 February 2014, as part of the Department’s review of the derogation applied under EU Regulation 181/2011 exempting bus and coach drivers from undertaking mandatory disability awareness training, Baroness Kramer wrote to a number of disabled transport stakeholders and charities with an interest in disability awareness training, requesting information on the structure and effectiveness of disability awareness training courses currently offered around the country. Responses have been received from organisations including Guide Dogs for the Blind, RNIB and the muscular dystrophy ‘Trailblazers’ campaign.

Bus Services: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 9 January 2014, Official Report, column 174WH, on disabled people (access to transport) and to his oral answer of 8 May 2014, what his Department's policy is on reviewing the UK's derogation from the requirement to have disability awareness training for bus drivers as set out in EU Regulation 181/2011.

Stephen Hammond: In March 2013, the Department for Transport made use of a number of time-limited exemptions available within EU Regulation 181/2011. These included an exemption from the requirement for drivers to undertake mandatory disability awareness training. However, we are also committed to review the use of the disability awareness training exemption in March 2014, this process is largely complete.
	To inform the review, on 24 February 2014 my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, wrote to bus industry representatives requesting information on the structure and effectiveness of disability awareness training courses currently offered and sought an update on the percentage of drivers that have completed this important training. A copy of this letter was also sent to disability stakeholders and charities with an interest in disability awareness training, seeking their input on this issue.
	Throughout March, the Department received many comprehensive responses on this subject from a range of stakeholders and we are currently working through this information. Once we have considered all responses in detail, Baroness Kramer will provide further details on how the Department intends to proceed shortly.

Cycling: Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the cycle to work scheme in Northern Ireland;
	(2)  what level of uptake there has been for the cycle-to-work scheme in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Scotland.

Robert Goodwill: The Department does not retain data on the uptake of the cycle-to-work scheme. Independently of Government, the Cycle to Work Alliance have published reports containing information on take up of the scheme. This is available at:
	www.cycletoworkalliance.org.uk/news.html.

Driving: Licensing

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many individuals applied to have their licences restored following the voluntary or enforced revocation of a driving licence on medical grounds in the most recent period for which figures are available; what the average timescale was for an application to be decided in that period; and how many requests were outstanding.

Stephen Hammond: The following tables show the number of drivers that have voluntarily surrendered, or had their driving licence refused/revoked on medical grounds, during 2013 and since applied to restore their licence and the average timescale for processing these applications:
	
		
			 Car/Motorcycle driving licences 
			   Average time taken to process application(calendar days) 
			 Applications to restore a licence following voluntary surrender 3,455 106 
			 Application to restore a licence previously refused 5,446 131 
			 Applications to restore a licence previously revoked 3,580 98 
			 Total 12,481 — 
		
	
	
		
			 Bus/Lorry driving licences 
			   Average time taken to process application(calendar days) 
			 Applications to restore a licence following voluntary surrender 103 111 
			 Application to restore a licence previously refused 478 110 
			 Applications to restore a licence previously revoked 1,251 52 
			 Total 1,832 — 
		
	
	Information is not held about those applications that are still outstanding for drivers that had voluntarily surrendered or had their licence refused/revoked in 2013.

Railways

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much from the public purse was spent on rebranding (a) engines and (b) rolling stock used on rail services in (i) Bury St Edmunds, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (d) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Stephen Hammond: No money from the public purse has been spent in the last five years on rebranding of rolling stock or engines used on rail services in Bury St Edmonds and Suffolk. The Department does not hold this level of disaggregated information for the East of England or for England and Wales.

Roads: Hampshire

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been invested in road infrastructure in (a) Portsmouth South constituency and (b) Hampshire in each of the last four years.

Robert Goodwill: The Department for Transport is responsible for the strategic road network which is managed by the Highways Agency on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport. The remaining roads are the responsibility of local highway authorities under the Highways Act 1980.
	Highways Agency spending on improving road infrastructure (including smaller schemes and technology improvements) on the strategic road over the last four financial years in Hampshire is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Funding (£ million) 
			 2010-11 49.415 
			 2011-12 65.526 
			 2012-13 51.296 
			 2013-14 71.830 
		
	
	The strategic road network does not extend into Portsmouth South.
	The Department for Transport also provides funding to local highway authorities through Integrated Transport and Highways Maintenance Block grants. This funding can be used to improve local roads that the authorities manage if they so wish. The following tables provide this information:
	
		
			 Highways Maintenance Block and top-up funding 
			 £ million 
			  Portsmouth city council Hampshire county council 
			 2010-11 1.316 21.392 
			 March 2011—Pothole funding 0.259 6.016 
			 2011-12 1.260 24.268 
			 2012-13 1.099 23.230 
			 2013-14 1.108 22.052 
			 2013-14 top-up (as announced in December 2012 autumn statement) 0.201 3.990 
			 2013-14—Flood repairs 0.147 11.509 
		
	
	The Department for Transport is also supporting the Portsmouth highways maintenance project and a street lighting project in Hampshire which are both being funded through the private finance initiative. The total Department for Transport funding being provided for the scheme over a 25-year period is as follows:
	
		
			 Scheme Total cost (£ million) 
			 Portsmouth Highways Maintenance PFI project 253.775 
			 Hampshire Street Lighting PFI project 234.328 
		
	
	
		
			 Integrated Transport Block and top-up funding 
			 £ million 
			  Portsmouth city council Hampshire county council 
			 2010-11 2.067 10.017 
			 2011-12 1.484 6.547 
			 2011-12 top-up funding 0.247 1.091 
			 2012-13 1.583 6.984 
			 2013-14 1.583 6.984 
		
	
	Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways.
	Neither capital nor revenue highways maintenance funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services they provide.
	In addition, the Department for Transport also provides capital funding for local major schemes, costing over £5 million. The Department for Transport has agreed to provide a funding contribution to two schemes being promoted by Portsmouth city council.

CABINET OFFICE

Public Appointments

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what criteria are used to decide which public bodies and offices are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments;
	(2)  appointments to which public bodies and offices to which Ministers make appointments are not regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, by appointing Minister.

Francis Maude: The public appointments that are subject to regulation by the Commissioner for Public Appointments are governed by legislation-the Public Appointments Order in Council 2013. This lists the public bodies that fall within the Commissioner’s remit.
	The document is available to view online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-appointments-order-in-council

Publications

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what literature was produced to educate the public on government policy in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.

Francis Maude: Government published material is listed at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications

Respite Care

Paul Maynard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

Nick Hurd: I am not aware of any specific direct payments of this type made by the Cabinet Office. Details of organisations funded by the Cabinet Office can be found on gov.uk.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many of his Department's employees are currently working on the digital solution for universal credit.

Nick Hurd: There are currently no Cabinet Office employees working full-time on the digital solution for universal credit.
	Cabinet Office officials have provided wide-ranging support and advice to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) universal credit digital team who have their own team working on the digital solution for universal credit.
	This model of supporting departments to develop their own digital capability is core to the Government Digital Strategy, available at:
	gov.uk/digitalstrategy

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of the introduction of unbundled fibre to the cabinet and sub-loop bundling of residential broadband provision.

Edward Vaizey: I favour competition at all levels of the telecoms system, where it is effective and sustainable. Sub-loop unbundling (SLU), where a competing provider takes their fibre to BT's street cabinets and connects to BT's copper lines to consumers' premises, is a standard product controlled by Ofcom. At present there appears to be limited demand from communications providers for SLU. There may be opportunities to increase the likelihood of future competition in fibre-to-the-cabinet by designing network upgrades to make such access easier at little or no additional cost at the time of deployment, but lower entry barriers subsequently. Ofcom is keeping the matter under review.

Broadband

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will initiate a review of the fibre broadband wholesale pricing structure.

Edward Vaizey: On 27 January this year, Ofcom published a consultation on an update on the impact of fibre roll-out and the proposed charge control review of the wholesale broadband access (WBA) markets, following-on from its July-September 2013 consultation on the WBA market. In this context, services provided via copper, cable and fibre access networks are considered to be within the same market. The update consultation closed on 10 March.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 576W, on Equality and Human Rights Commission, if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance referred to in the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Equality and Diversity Workforce Report 2010-11 which has been provided to all managers on how to manage a diverse workforce through organisational change.

Helen Grant: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including diversity training. The guidance papers requested are internal documents that were not intended for wider publication. However, I have asked the EHRC to send copies to the hon. Member.

Giro d'Italia

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential for growth in tourism as a result of the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia taking place in Northern Ireland.

Helen Grant: I have not held any discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential for growth in tourism as a result of the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia taking place in Northern Ireland. However, I would like to congratulate them on having won the right to stage the Big Start of this major cycling race on 9 to 11 May, which will further support Northern Ireland's wonderful tourism offer and boost the economy.

Radio Frequencies

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations he has received on privatising a larger share of the radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Government are aware of the need to put more spectrum into the market to support innovation and growth and launched the Public Sector Spectrum Release Programme in 2011. This programme aims to release 500 MHz of sub-5GHz spectrum from public sector use by 2020. One of the early actions was to gauge stakeholder demand at a series of events. The most recent programme update was published on 10 March 2014. On the same day Government published the UK Spectrum Strategy which sets out a vision for efficient and flexible spectrum management, with specific actions and the goal of doubling the contribution of spectrum use to the economy by 2025. Both documents can be found on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spectrum-strategy

Respite Care

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

Helen Grant: DCMS has not provided any funding to organisations aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families. However, DCMS and VisitEngland contributed to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Social Tourism. VisitEngland also works with the Family Holiday Association (FHA) to raise awareness of the issue of families excluded from taking holidays. I visited ‘Kent Life’ in March 2014 to promote Visit Kent’s social tourism pilot with the FHA.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland Government

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to her answer of 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 723W, on Northern Ireland Government, when she last met with the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development.

Theresa Villiers: I am in regular contact with the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development on several issues. I last met him on 8 May 2014. I am due to meet him again shortly.

Praxis

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will provide funding for Praxis to support the relocation of employees working on the Hillsborough Estate.

Theresa Villiers: The NIO will not provide funding for Praxis to support the relocation of employees working on the Hillsborough Estate. Praxis has benefited from generous terms over several years at the site, including an annual rent of only £1 and has been given a lengthy period to make appropriate arrangements for their service users to move to one of the other Praxis sites.

Praxis

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent support her Department has offered to Praxis to help relocate their services off the Hillsborough Estate.

Theresa Villiers: Praxis Care has benefited from generous terms over several years at Hillsborough, including an annual rent of only £1. My Department has also given them a prolonged period in which to make other arrangements; the original Notice to Quit was issued 21 months ago.

Praxis

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will meet representatives of Praxis to discuss their eviction from the Hillsborough Estate.

Theresa Villiers: I have met Praxis Care on two occasions to discuss this matter and my officials have had several further meetings with them.
	In the light of the extensive discussions that have taken place with Praxis I do not feel that a further meeting would be appropriate at the present time.

Prerogative of Mercy

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when she was informed by officials in her Department that records for the period 1987 to 1988 relating to the Royal Prerogative of Mercy had gone missing; and whether she instigated an inquiry.

Theresa Villiers: I first became aware of the issue on receipt of advice from officials and a draft response to recent parliamentary questions. I have asked for an urgent review of the historical records relating to RPMs during the period 1987 to 1997 and this is now being conducted.

EDUCATION

Child Protection

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were on child protection plans in each Greater Manchester local authority area in the last three years for which data is available.

Edward Timpson: The data requested can be found online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/characteristics-of-children-in-need-in-england-2012-to-2013

Free Schools

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will discuss with (a) the Whitbourne Independent School and Hub and (b) other projects whose applications for free school status were turned down those applicants' feedback on how the application process can be made easier for small independent schools.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education welcomes all feedback on its processes and routinely surveys both successful and unsuccessful free school applicants to ensure the application process remains rigorous and fair and that only the strongest applications are approved.
	The Whitbourne Independent School and Hub unsuccessfully applied to the New School Network’s development programme, but has not applied to the Department of Education to open a free school. It is welcome to do so.

GCSE

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of the cohort achieved an A* to C grade in (a) GCSE mathematics, (b) GCSE English and (c) GCSE English literature at the end of (i) year 11, (ii) year 12 and (iii) year 13 in each of the last 10 years.

David Laws: The following tables show the proportion of 15, 16 and 17 year olds (based on academic age) who had achieved A*-C grade in GCSE English and GCSE mathematics for the last 10 years. The figures cover young people who were in the state sector at academic age 15. Academic age refers to the age at the start of the academic year, so the majority of young people of academic age 15 will be in year 11. The data source used for this analysis does not differentiate between English literature and English language so may include those that have A*-C in either subject.
	Tables that show key stage 4 results for English and English literature are available at:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2012-to-2013-revised
	
		
			 Proportion achieving A*-C grade in GCSE English by academic age and cohort 
			 Percentage 
			  Academic age 
			 Cohort academic age 15 in 15 16 17 
			 2001/02 53 55 56 
			 2002/03 54 56 56 
			 2003/04 54 56 57 
			 2004/05 56 58 59 
		
	
	
		
			 2005/06 57 59 60 
			 2006/07 58 60 61 
			 2007/08 59 62 63 
			 2008/09 61 64 65 
			 2009/10 66 68 69 
			 2010/11 69 70 71 
		
	
	
		
			 Proportion achieving A*-C grade in GCSE mathematics by academic age and cohort 
			 Percentage 
			  Academic age 
			 Cohort academic age 15 in 15 16 17 
			 2001/02 47 48 49 
			 2002/03 46 48 48 
			 2003/04 47 49 50 
			 2004/05 50 52 52 
			 2005/06 51 54 54 
			 2006/07 53 56 56 
			 2007/08 56 58 59 
			 2008/09 58 61 62 
			 2009/10 62 64 65 
			 2010/11 65 67 67 
			 Source: DFE Young Person’s Matched Administrative Dataset.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 24 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Sherratt.

Edward Timpson: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), replied to the right hon. Gentleman's letter on 2 May 2014.

School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the performance of the School Food Plan in increasing healthy breakfast provision in more deprived areas; and how much had been spent on this programme by April 2014.

David Laws: As part of the school food plan, Magic Breakfast started work in March 2014 to set up breakfast clubs in schools where over 35% of pupils are eligible for free school meals and where there is currently no breakfast provision.
	We are currently tendering for a contract to evaluate the effectiveness of the breakfast clubs. The successful bidder will be announced shortly.

School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in which local authorities 30% or more pupils entitled to free school meals are not claiming them; and what steps he is taking to improve the take-up of free school meals.

David Laws: The Department for Education routinely collects information on pupils who are both eligible for and claiming free school meals. This information is published in the “Schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2013” Statistical First Release, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013
	Identifying pupils who are eligible for but not claiming free school meals is more difficult.
	The Department has published a research paper, “Pupils not claiming free school meals: 2013”, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-not-claiming-free-school-meals-2013
	which presents estimates of the number and proportion of pupils who are entitled to receive free school meals but are not claiming. The paper compares registration rates for children aged between four and 15 and highlights regions and local authorities where under-registration rates are high. A table showing under registration rates by local authority can be found in the annex.
	The Department has developed a free school meals eligibility checking system (ECS). The ECS enables local authorities to check very quickly and determine whether a parent can claim free school meals by linking benefits information from DWP, HMRC and the Home Office. It represents a significant achievement in reducing bureaucracy and cost for local authorities and encouraging more parents to sign up their children for a free school lunch. The ECS has been extended to allow parents to check their own eligibility, and to apply online, for free school meals. The new system reduces the time, stigma and bureaucracy previously associated with applications for free school meals.
	Resources are also available from the Children’s Food Trust to help schools increase take-up of free school meals, available at:
	http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/resources/fsm/free-school-meals-matter-toolkit

Schools: Admissions

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to rule out the introduction of fees for admission to over-subscribed schools supported by public funds.

David Laws: Education legislation prevents all state-funded schools from charging for admission. The School Admissions Code, which applies to all state-funded schools (including academies and free schools through the terms of their funding agreements), further enforces this. I have no intention of changing this legislation.
	The School Admissions Code can be accessed at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code

Schools: Inspections

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answers of 29 April 2014, Official Report, columns 559-60W and column 560W, on schools: inspections, for what reason local authorities are inspected separately from schools maintained by local authorities but academies are not inspected separately from the head offices of academy chains.

David Laws: Ofsted can inspect local authorities to see whether they are fulfilling a number of statutory duties. Academy head offices do not have the same statutory duties. However, Ofsted already inspects academy chains through batched inspections. It has recently undertaken focused inspections of academies within E-ACT multi-academy trust, and has previously inspected a group of academies within the AET chain.

Sixth-form Education

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools and academies have (a) opened a new sixth form and (b) closed their sixth form in each year since 2005.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Education does not collect the data in the format requested.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Carrington Wire

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the Pension Regulator to conclude its investigation into the Carrington Wire pension scheme.

Steve Webb: This is a matter for the Pensions Regulator which has operational independence.
	Inevitably in complex cases involving foreign companies where it appears that scheme abandonment may have taken place, it can take some time for the Regulator to complete the thorough investigations needed to establish whether the legal tests in relation to its ‘anti-avoidance’ powers, including the power to issue contribution notices, are met.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what underspend there has been on the Youth Contract scheme; and how any such underspend has been used.

Esther McVey: The Government have announced a number of measures to reallocate the Youth Contract underspend.
	In July 2013, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that out of the £1 billion initially allocated to the Youth Contract, £50 million of underspend would be made available to City Deals to support local youth initiatives. Additionally £5 million of funding was made available to the devolved Administrations to support further youth schemes.
	Funding of £35 million was also allocated to extend the successful New Enterprise Allowance scheme. The scheme has already helped over 40,000 people start up their own business. A further £20 million was allocated for start-up loans.
	Further funds were allocated to enable pilots for 18 to 21-year-olds with low levels of skills including maths and English, and 16 to 17-year-olds to receive help from Jobcentre Plus.

Jobcentre Plus

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what training is provided to front-desk jobcentre staff on understanding and being sympathetic to the variety of difficulties that some people with ill health or disability face.

Esther McVey: It is really important that DWP staff have the skills required to support a range of claimants: to respect their individual needs, including those related to their health conditions and disabilities and it is DWP Policy to ensure staff have those necessary skills.
	Jobcentre advisers, after initial compulsory training sessions, can regularly update their knowledge through access to a comprehensive training programme. This training focuses on raising awareness of the individual’s personal circumstances, and also recognises that disabilities and health conditions can affect individuals in different ways.
	Further support for claimants is available from disability employment advisers who receive additional training which has been designed in conjunction with specialist DWP occupational psychologists to enable those advisers to provide effective support to people with particular complex needs.

Jobcentre Plus

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department takes to ensure that a claimant suffers no financial hardship as a result of paperwork lost by a jobcentre.

Esther McVey: In the event of maladministration, the Department provides for a special payment scheme. The scheme is designed to allow us to restore the claimant to the financial position they would have been in, had there been no maladministration. Information about the scheme can be found on gov.uk

Jobcentre Plus

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sick notes have been recorded as missing by Jobcentre plus (a) annually since 2010 and (b) in each of the last 12 months.

Esther McVey: DWP does not collate this information at the level required. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker's allowance claimants have been referred early to payment group three of the work programme since June 2011; and what proportion of all the referrals to that payment group they account for.

Esther McVey: The number of jobseeker's allowance claimants referred early to the Work Programme under payment group three between June 2011 and December 2013 is 51,440. This equates to 18.5% of the total number referred under this payment group.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed how much support for mortgage interest in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) January to April 2014.

Steve Webb: Available figures on the average number of claimants in receipt of support for mortgage interest (SMI), and total SMI expenditure, are based on financial years.
	The following table includes outturn figures for the years up until 2012-13, together with estimates for 2013-14, and the forecast for 2014-15. These figures were published on 23 April 2014.
	
		
			 Support for mortgage interest Caseload (thousand) Nominal (cash £ millions) Real terms (2014-15 prices £ millions) 
			 2009-10 outturn 235 563 621 
			 2010-11 outturn 240 514 554 
			 2011-12 outturn 221 367 386 
			 2012-13 outturn 203 348 362 
			 2013-14 estimate 211 382 390 
			 2014-15 forecast 229 368 368 
			 Source: DWP benefit expenditure and caseload tables; Outturn and forecast: Budget 2014; tables 3a-c, which can be found via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2014

Occupational Pensions

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of women with multiple part-time jobs whose total earnings are above the threshold for automatic enrolment; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: There are 230,000-260,000 female workers with multiple jobs who have total earnings above the automatic enrolment earnings trigger (£10,000 in 2014/15). Just 40,000-50,000 of these are ineligible for automatic enrolment because they earn less than the earnings trigger in any one of their jobs. A majority of these workers have earnings above the lower limit of the automatic enrolment qualifying earnings band (£5,772 in 2014/15) in at least one job and so can opt-in to a pension scheme with a mandatory contribution from their employer. Further detail is available in Workplace Pension Reform: Multiple Jobholders, DWP, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211729/ad-hoc-multiple-jobs.pdf

Occupational Pensions

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of working age (a) men and (b) women who do not meet the wage criteria for eligibility for auto-enrolment; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The analysis required to answer this question is not currently available. To answer this question requires analysis across a number of data sources to include all women and men of working age.
	If a robust outcome can be reached it will be published on the DWP website.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the net benefits in 2011-12 prices of the Universal Credit programme in the period 2010-11 to 2022-23.

Esther McVey: The net benefits of the universal credit programme are set out in the NAO report: “Universal Credit—Early Progress” HC 621 published on 5 September 2013.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department first approached the Computer Electronics and Surveillance Group of GCHQ about security in the universal credit IT system.

Esther McVey: Similarly to other Government Departments, DWP has a long history of working with GCHQ on issues of security as and when necessary.
	Part of GCHQ, The Computer Electronics and Surveillance Group is the national lead for information assurance. The Department has been working with them from the start of universal credit design to develop the IT security of universal credit. We continue to work closely to ensure that all aspects of the system are appropriately secured.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he commissioned recruitment firms to assist in the appointment of a new director general for universal credit.

Michael Penning: The director general of universal credit was appointed on a two-year contract to May 2015. To ensure a smooth transition in advance of the next general election, the search for a replacement to lead the programme through to its completion will commence in due course.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on GDP of the reform to the air passenger duty banding system announced in the 2014 Budget; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will commission a dynamic modelling study on the economic effects of air passenger duty; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: The economic and fiscal effects of Government policies are routinely assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Information can be found in the OBR’s economic and fiscal outlook, at:
	http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2014
	The Government expect the reform to air passenger duty announced in Budget 2014 to support export trade confidence by strengthening UK links to overseas markets.
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), keeps the use of dynamic modelling under review.

Debts: Developing Countries

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 in preventing the use of the English legal system by vulture funds to extract funds from developing countries.

Andrea Leadsom: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the former Financial Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid), on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 160W, which includes information on the Government’s approach to promoting debt sustainability among low-income countries.
	The impact assessment for the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 indicates direct benefits to heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) of between zero and £26 million a year. The Government’s decision to make the Act permanent on 25 May 2011 was taken following consultation with relevant stakeholders; evidence from that exercise suggested that the Act had some benefit on HIPCs and no evidence was found of unintended or adverse effects.
	The UK continues to be at the forefront of international efforts to promote responsible lending and borrowing practices, including our ongoing support for the IMF/World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework and OECD lending principles covering official export credits. The UK also supports the World Bank’s debt reduction facility, which enables countries to buy back their commercial debt at a deep discount with donor backing, and the African Legal Support Facility, which provides legal advice to countries facing litigation.

Housing

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the number of properties valued at more than (a) £2 million and (b) £5 million;
	(2)  what assessment his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the average annual payment required from each property valued above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum;
	(3)  what assessment his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the effect on stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax receipts of the introduction of a so-called mansion tax designed to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum.

David Gauke: The number of residential properties in the UK valued at more than £2 million was estimated before Budget 2012 to be around 55,000.
	Before Budget 2012, an assessment of the average annual payment required from each property above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum was not made.
	On 1 July 2013, during Report stage of the Finance Bill, I referred to
	“a simple calculation arrived at by dividing £2 billion by 55,000 (an internal HMRC estimate of the number of properties valued at over £2 million) to give a ‘mean’ average of £36,000.”
	A so-called mansion tax would depress stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax yields. The exact impact would be dependent on the rates and bands chosen.

Income Tax

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the potential cost to the public purse of raising the income tax personal allowance for 2014-15 from £10,000, (a) £10,550, (b) £11,000, (c) £11,500, (d) £12,000, (e) £12,500 and (f) £13,000.

David Gauke: The cost of raising the income tax personal allowance may be approximated using the “Direct effects of illustrative tax changes” table as published on the internet at the following address:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes

Mapeley

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has paid to Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited since the sale of HM Revenue and Customs' estate to that company.

David Gauke: Since the financial year 2006-07, the earliest year for which records are held on HMRC accounting systems, HMRC has paid £2,364 million to Mapeley STEPS Contractor Ltd. This amount includes VAT and utility and other non STEPS costs. Payments to Mapeley are published in departmental spending reports at data.gov.uk

Minimum Wage

Liz Kendall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which social care providers have been identified by HM Revenue and Customs as non-compliant with national minimum wage legislation; how much is owed in arrears by each such provider and to how many workers; and what value of fines have been levied on such providers to date.

David Gauke: The Government take the enforcement of national minimum wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the national minimum wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999. It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have a legal duty of confidentiality towards their customers. For NMW, this includes employers and their workers. This means that HMRC cannot supply all the information requested as this would breach HMRC’s statutory duty of confidentiality under s18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
	Fines are associated with criminal offences. Where minimum wage arrears are identified for any pay reference periods starting on or after 6 April 2009, the employer will be charged an automatic penalty. The rate of the penalty charge was 50% of the arrears falling in pay periods after 6 April 2009 (minimum penalty charge was £100 and the maximum was £5,000).
	The Government have increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.
	To ensure that underpaid workers receive the arrears of national minimum wage due to them, HMRC contacts every employer for confirmation that they have paid the arrears to workers. In cases where five or fewer workers are owed arrears HMRC also contacts all those workers for confirmation of payment. In cases where more than five workers are identified as being owed arrears HMRC contacts an additional sample of workers for confirmation of payment.
	HMRC records information by Standard Industry Codes. The following table shows the number of employers in the Social Care sector found to be non-compliant with NMW legislation in the last year. Also shown are the value of arrears, the number of underpaid workers identified and the value of penalties issued to employers as a result of those investigations.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of employers recorded as Social Care Sector and found to be non-compliant Arrears identified during those investigations Underpaid workers identified during those investigations Penalties issued during those investigations 
			 2013-14 30 £800,883 3,620 £46,020

Money Laundering: EU Action

Naomi Long: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he will take to implement the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive; and what plans he has to distinguish between high and low risk trusts.

Andrea Leadsom: The Treasury is leading the ongoing negotiations on the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The UK is committed to implementing measures to prevent potential misuse of trusts for illicit purposes. We support mandatory requirements on trustees to hold beneficial ownership information on their trusts and together with the new automatic exchange of tax information agreements there will be more transparency and information exchange on trusts than ever before.

National Insurance Contributions: New Businesses

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employers participated in the regional employer national insurance contributions holiday in each region.

David Gauke: This Government are committed to helping UK businesses grow and create jobs. The NICs holiday was a temporary, targeted scheme to help start ups take on new staff within their first year of trading. Although take up was lower than expected, the holiday benefitted over 26,000 businesses and supported over 90,000 jobs.
	Building on the lessons learnt from the holiday, we are taking action to reduce the employer NICs burden on small businesses and have created the new employment allowance which is simple to administer, permanent and available to all business and charities in the UK, this is reducing their employer NICs bill by up to £2,000 each year. As a result, 450,000 employers will pay no NICs at all in 2014-15.
	According to the latest available figures the break down of employers that applied for the national insurance holiday by region, throughout the scheme is as follows:
	
		
			 Region Total 
			 Northern Ireland 1265 
			 Scotland 3975 
			 Wales 1695 
			 East Midlands 2645 
			 North East 1840 
			 North West 4840 
			 South West 3975 
			 West Midlands 3100 
			 Yorks. and Humber 3265 
			 Total 26600 
		
	
	The NICs holiday attracted around 26,600 applicants over a three year period. Further statistical information on the scheme is available on a factsheet at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/nics-hol.htm
	The factsheet only covers periods from the start of the scheme to December 2012.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many requests for annual PAYE status have been received in each month since the introduction of PAYE Real Time Information; and how many such requests in each such month have been granted.

David Gauke: I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the response I gave him on 6 September 2013, Official Report, column 582W.

Revenue and Customs

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are employed by HM Revenue and Customs in regional post rooms at each location in the UK.

David Gauke: As requested, please find detailed below staff numbers employed in HMRC regional post rooms employed solely in post room activities.
	
		
			  Number 
			 Shipley 45 
			 Cardiff 65 
			 Bootle 35 
			 Newcastle 98 
			 Cumbernauld 46 
		
	
	I also refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer on 12 May 2014, Official Report, column 334W.

Tonnage Tax

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of qualifying companies in the Tonnage Tax scheme were in the (a) public and (b) private sector in each year the scheme has been in operation.

David Gauke: The information requested is not available.

UK Asset Resolution

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with UKAR regarding the potential effect on customers of a rise in interest rates;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect of an interest rate rise on customers whose mortgages are held by UKAR; and what support is available to assist such customers to switch providers.

Andrea Leadsom: This Government’s long term economic plan has kept interest rates at record lows for hardworking people across the country.
	Many lenders impose affordability stress tests on their mortgage lending decisions to ensure that the mortgage will remain affordable should interest rates rise. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Mortgage Market Review rules, which came into force in April this year will require all mortgage lenders to conduct such a stress test.
	Although UKAR does not engage in new lending, UKAR runs a range of modelling scenarios to understand the potential effects of interest rate rises on customers. This work helps UKAR to identify customers who may be susceptible to higher interest rates and to engage with such customers at an early stage.
	UKAR assists all customers who wish to switch mortgage providers.
	NRAM and Bradford and Bingley are managed by UK Asset Resolution Limited (UKAR) which was established in 2010 to manage the disposal and rundown of outstanding assets at Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management in an integrated way, with a view to creating value for the taxpayer. UKAR is managed at arm’s length from Government, on commercial principles.
	It is therefore not for the Chancellor to discuss detailed commercial matters with UKAR.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Liz Kendall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to answer Question 195074, from the hon. Member for Leicester West, on social care providers and non-payments of the National Minimum Wage.

David Gauke: I have done so today.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Electricity

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether all independent renewable energy generators will have agreed project terms with their financiers at the time of submitting a Contracts for Difference auction bid.

Michael Fallon: The Government are committed to ensuring that a broad range of developers and projects are able to access the CfD, and is introducing the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) to guarantee independent renewable generators a route to market and improve their ability to raise project finance. Ultimately the financing of individual projects is a matter for developers. Projects applying for CfDs will be at different stages of development, including the extent to which they have engaged with and/or agreed terms with financiers. However, the CfD offers a number of important advantages over the renewables obligation, including providing developers and their financiers with the certainty of a private-law contract which will be awarded to successful projects years ahead of the point at which some projects can accredit under the renewables obligation.

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many reviews of solar PV support schemes his Department has undertaken since 2010.

Gregory Barker: The level of support for solar PV generation under the renewables obligation (RO) was last reviewed in 2012 as part of the comprehensive RO banding review. The results of the solar review are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/levels-of-banded-support-for-solar-pv-under-the-renewables-obligation-for-the-period-1-april-2013-to-31-march-2017
	A comprehensive review of the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme was carried out during 2011 and 2012, with a fast-track review of FIT support for larger-scale PV in March 2011. The link for the FITs reviews is:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-use-of-low-carbon-technologies/supporting-pages/feed-in-tariffs-scheme

Solar PV Strategy Group

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many meetings of the Government industry solar strategy group have taken place since it was established in 2012; and on what dates that group met.

Gregory Barker: The Solar PV Strategy Group has met three times, on the following dates:
	8 March 2013;
	7 June 2013; and
	11 December 2013.
	They plan to meet again early this summer.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Burglary

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the link between (a) street and (b) ambient lighting and the incidence of burglaries.

Brandon Lewis: As I stated in my answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 419W, street lighting plays an important role in road safety, as well as ensuring the personal safety of pedestrians. There may be some roads where lights could be dimmed in the very early hours, saving taxpayers’ money. However, this should be a local decision by elected local councillors, reflecting local circumstances-specially in relation to any concerns about crime. Equally, not every neighbourhood wants street lighting, as some communities, especially in rural areas, value dark skies.
	We believe that councils should listen to the views of their local residents, and then adopt appropriate local policies based on the neighbourhood, the precise location and the usage of the road/street. I previously noted that “Manual for Streets” contains some useful guidance on getting the balance right when providing street lighting, taking into account the different issues around safety, crime prevention, street clutter and light pollution. Ultimately, there is no prescriptive Whitehall guidance, and any assessment will depend on local circumstances and local views.
	Notwithstanding, I would observe that Her Majesty’s Opposition seem to have a short memory about their actions on cutting street lighting when they were in office:
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
	When the right hon. Member was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, his Department and its quangos lectured local councils to switch off or reduce street lighting to minimise carbon emissions. For example, in 2007, he personally launched the Carbon Trust Standard, which was tied to an extensive programme to reduce street lighting as part of the Local Authority Carbon Management Programme. As DEFRA Ministers told the House:
	“All authorities should be seeking to reduce energy usage both to cut costs and to help combat climate change. As street lighting accounts for a significant proportion of the energy used by authorities, it should be readily identified as an area that should be examined for potential efficiency savings”
	(6 November 2006, Official Report, column 709W).
	Department for Transport:
	The Minister of State for Transport, the noble Lord Adonis (now a Shadow Minister for Infrastructure) when asked about reducing the hours of operation of street lighting, noted that
	“the Government also support the Carbon Trust’s local authority carbon management programme, which provides councils with support and guidance to help them realise carbon emissions savings from street lighting”
	(17 December 2008, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA52). Transport Ministers also endorsed the Highways Agency’s ‘Efficiency Strategy for Road Lighting’ which led to switching off motorway lighting at night (21 April 2008, Official Report , column 1444W; Highways Agency
	, 
	“Efficiency Strategy for Road Lighting Midnight Switch Off for Motorway Lighting”, 2009).
	Department for Communities and Local Government:
	The right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) (now Shadow Home Secretary), when as Minister in the precursor Department to DCLG, noted there was nuanced debate on the extent of street lighting:
	“We all recognise the fact that there is a series of tensions around light pollution. People in the cities will never have the same view of the night sky as one can get in the middle of Dartmoor... There can be tensions too at neighbourhood level between the security-obsessed householder who has glaring white security lights stuck to every corner of the house, which flicker on every time a little bird flies past or the cat runs across the garden, and the neighbour who... has a telescope and cannot see across the garden, let alone into the skies”
	(12 February 2004, Official Report, column 510WH).
	Department of Energy and Climate Change:
	In 2008, the right hon. Member also personally launched the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which resulted in councils cutting carbon emissions from street lighting, including dimming or switching off lights. The Highway Agency’s “Energy Strategy for Roadside Equipment” (April 2010) explained that the approach of “dimming, trimming and partial night lighting” was a consequence of the requirements to meet the Carbon Reduction Commitment. As DECC Ministers said to the House:
	“DECC is working to include street lighting in the Carbon Reduction Commitment. This will provide an incentive for local authorities to improve the energy efficiency of street lights. DECC is working closely with Communities and Local Government to develop the policy, in so far as it relates to local authorities”
	(19 June 2009, Official Report, column 515W). Of course, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change at that time was the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) now Leader of HM Opposition.
	I hope this illuminates the historical fogginess of the Labour party’s current campaign on municipal street lighting. I would suggest the last person out of Labour HQ tonight should turn off the lights.

Derelict Land: Recreation Spaces

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will assess the potential merits of retaining brownfield enclaves within urban areas as greenspaces for local amenity rather than being used for in-fill building.

Nicholas Boles: The National Planning Policy Framework recognises that access to high quality open spaces can make an important contribution to the health and well-being of communities. At the local level, planning policies should be based on assessments of need for open space, sports and recreation facilities and opportunities for new provision. The Framework also enables local communities, through the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans, to identify for special protection green or open areas of particular importance to them as Local Green Space. This includes land in urban areas.

Empty Property: Bristol

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of empty properties in (a) Bristol North West constituency and (b) Bristol.

Stephen Williams: Statistics on vacant dwellings in England and in each local authority district, including Bristol, are published in the Department’s live table 615 which is available at the following link.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
	This table shows the annual total numbers of empty homes and those vacant longer than six months and also vacant in the local authority, housing association and other public sector tenures:
	Data are collected only at local authority district level and are not available by parliamentary constituency.
	The number of vacant dwellings and long-term dwellings, for the City of Bristol and England, are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
	
		
			 Table 1: All vacant dwellings, City of Bristol and England, 5 October 2009 to 7 October 2013 
			  5 October 2009 4 October 2010 3 October 2011 1 October 2012 7 October 2013 
			 City of Bristol 4,890 5,069 4,519 4,294 3,583 
			 England 770,496 737,147 719,352 704,357 635,127 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: All long-term vacant dwellings, City of Bristol and England, 5 October 2009 to 7 October 2013 
			  5 October 2009 4 October 2010 3 October 2011 1 October 2012 7 October 2013 
			 City of Bristol 2,034 1,929 1,968 1,780 1,283 
			 England 316,251 299,999 277,529 254,059 216,050

Housing

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to publish the findings of the research he commissioned from the University of Sheffield into the New Homes Bonus. [R]

Kris Hopkins: The Department is undertaking a wider evaluation of the New Homes Bonus; its findings will be published in due course.

Housing: Construction

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on plans to increase house building by 2030.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 23 January 2014
	: The Government do not have a Whitehall building target. The last Administration had a state target to increase house building to 240,000 dwellings a year, yet house building then fell to its lowest peacetime rate since the 1920s.
	By contrast, the coalition Government have put in place a range of measures to get Britain building again, fix the broken housing market and help hard-working people get the home they want.
	Action taken includes wide-ranging planning reform through National Planning Policy Framework; new incentives to deliver housing growth through the New Homes Bonus; as well as the Government’s broader long-term economic plan to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration and keep interest rates down. I would note:
	We have already delivered 420,000 new homes since 2010.
	New orders in residential construction have risen to their highest level since 2007 according to the Office for National Statistics;
	Housing starts are at their highest since 2007 according to DCLG figures;
	The number of first time buyers is at its highest since 2007 according to the Council for Mortgage Lenders;
	Repossessions are at their lowest since 2007, according to the Council for Mortgage Lenders; and
	New home registrations rose by 30% in 2013 in England, the highest since 2007, and are up 60% in London, according to the NHBC.
	In relation to specific programmes:
	Affordable housing
	170,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010.
	Our Affordable Homes Programme will deliver 170,000 homes over the current spending review period (2011-2015) levering in £19.5 billion of public and private funding. We have announced a new ‘Affordable Rent to Buy’ scheme which will deliver affordable homes through a recoverable fund. We have also published details of a new Affordable Homes Programme for the next spending period, which will lever in up to £23 billion in public and private funding to deliver 165,000 homes from 2015 to 2018.
	The Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme is worth up to £3.5 billion (with further lending capacity held in reserve according to demand) and supported by up to £450 million grant funding in England. Up to 30,000 additional affordable homes will be underway by December 2017. Affordable Housing Finance Plc was awarded the licence for the Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme in June 2013. The first eight housing associations to be approved to borrow through the scheme were announced in January 2014, who will raise over £400 million of debt to facilitate the delivery of over 4,000 new affordable homes. We also announced a European Investment Bank loan facility worth £500 million. More borrowers will follow.
	The Right to Buy Scheme, allowing eligible social tenants to buy their homes at a discount has achieved almost 24,000 sales since April 2010, with the majority (16,200) since we reinvigorated the scheme in 2012. A total of 2,845 council properties were sold between October and December last year, a 42% increase on the same period in 2012. The reinvigorated Right to Buy ensures, for the first time, that the receipts from the additional sales, that is those over what was forecast prior to the change, are reinvested in helping to fund new homes for affordable rent. So far, £300 million has been generated from additional sales and already over 2,000 homes have been started on site or acquired since April 2012.
	Home ownership schemes (Help to Buy)
	Since April 2013, the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme has offered buyers a 20% equity loan that can be used towards the cost of buying a new build homes, allowing people to buy with a 5% deposit. There were over 30,000 reservations and 19,394 completed loans across England by the end of March 2014, with funding for up to 74,000 sales by March 2016. Alongside this, the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme has so far supported a further 5,173 households purchase new build homes by the end of March 2014. The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme was extended through the 2014 Budget announcement to 2020 to help 120,000 more households purchase a new build home.
	The FirstBuy scheme was announced in the Budget 2011 to help support 10,000 first time buyers on the property ladder. The scheme was replaced in April 2013 with Help to Buy. There were 11,590 FirstBuy sales to the end of March 2014.
	Since the end of last year, the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is providing up to £12 billion of Government guarantees to support people to buy with a 5% deposit, and over 2,500 homes have so far (by the end of January 2014) been brought through this route, and has helped lower interest rates for those with smaller deposits. The three Help to Buy schemes complement each other, and their success can be taken in the whole.
	Private rented sector
	The £1 billion Build to Rent programme, which provides development phase finance, is supporting new high quality development purpose built for private rent and is on track to create up to 10,000 new homes. The programme received £1.4 billion of bids under Round One, which is expected to support 15 developments which will provide over 2,600 homes across England in locations which include Durham, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Five contracts to the combined value of over £74.5 million have already been agreed which will deliver over 1,000 new homes for private rent; construction has already started in Southampton (Centenary Quay) and Manchester (Three Towers); more contracts will follow.
	Bidding for Round Two of the Build to Rent Fund was significantly oversubscribed receiving 126 bids to the value of around £3 billion. 36 projects on the shortlist from Round Two are now going through a competitive due diligence process, with successful bids receiving funding to deliver thousands of new homes. A list of all shortlisted bids has been placed in the Library of the House. The shortlist is over-programmed, meaning not all shortlisted projects will receive funding. Shortlisting and due diligence are the first stages of the Build to Rent approval process. The Homes and Communities Agency will continue to work with bidders until exchange of contracts in order to ensure value for money for taxpayers.
	In addition to direct funding, the Government’s Private Rented Sector Taskforce is continuing to build the private rented sector as an investment market and have identified £10 billion of domestic and foreign investment available in the private rented sector.
	The Private Rented Sector Guarantees scheme will provide a government guarantee for up to £3.5 billion debt (with further lending capacity held in reserve according to demand) for borrowers investing in new build private rented sector homes across the UK. The guarantees will use the UK Government’s hard-earned fiscal credibility to help lower the cost of borrowing and incentivise investment in the sector. DCLG is open for business to issue direct guarantees and is actively discussing potential applications with a number of borrowers looking to invest in large scale developments. On 18 March, we also launched a procurement inviting bids from the market to be our delivery partner for Private Rented Sector Housing Debt Guarantees, with the aim of maximizing take up of guarantees including for small and medium enterprises. My Department will be evaluating bids to perform the role in due course.
	Infrastructure and development finance
	The Get Britain Building investment fund has been provided over £500 million of finance to unlock smaller stalled sites. As at February 2014, it has helped kick start 11,893 new homes on stalled sites.
	The Growing Places Fund is providing £770 million to deliver the infrastructure needed to unlock stalled schemes that will promoted economic growth, create jobs and build homes. The fund has been fully allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships and the devolved administrations to fund local projects. Progress updates in June 2013 reported that £652 million of capital funding had been allocated to 305 projects across England. Local Enterprise Partnerships expect these projects to create 4,900 businesses, 94,000 jobs and 27,000 houses. A further update will be published in due course.
	The £474 million Local Infrastructure Fund is helping to unlock large scale housing developments. To date, we have unlocked 15 sites capable of delivering almost 80,000 homes through a combination of financial and non-financial support. We are currently working to unlock a further 13 stalled schemes to deliver up to 40,000 new homes. In addition to the capital investment, we have made available £13 million of capacity funding to support local authorities in fulfilling their local housing ambitions.
	The 2013 autumn statement also announced a further £1 billion to unlock development on large housing sites and a prospectus inviting bids was published on 14 April. During the Easter recess, we also published the Local Growth Fund (Housing Infrastructure) prospectus. This sets out the detail on how to access the £50 million part of the Local Growth Fund in 2015-16. It is designed to help speed up and restart housing developments between 250 and 1,499 units that have slowed down or stalled.
	The 2014 Budget announced further funding for driving up housing supply including a £525 million Builders Finance Fund to provide development finance for small sites to support the construction of 15,000 new homes; the prospectus has also recently been published.
	The Budget announced the intention to create an Urban Development Corporation for the Ebbsfleet area to accelerate the construction of a garden-city style development which will unlock up to 15,000 homes-with up to £200 million capital being made available. We have also published a prospectus to support further locally-led garden cities.
	A new Estate Regeneration Fund of £150 million of recoverable investment will help kick start and accelerate the regeneration of some of our most deprived estates. And we will work with the Greater London Authority to support the regeneration of Brent Cross and unlock 11,000 homes at Barking Riverside.
	We have also taken steps to scale back economically unrealistic section 106 agreements, such as from the last Administration’s housing bubble, which result in no housing development, no regeneration and no community benefits.
	Self-build
	The £30 million investment fund for Custom Build Homes is currently assessing loan funding of £22.6 million with the potential to deliver 270 units. At the 2014 Budget, we announced that the Government will consult on a new ‘Right to Build’ to give self builders a right to a plot from councils, a new £150 million investment fund to help provide up to 10,000 service plots, and announced will we look to extend Help to Buy equity to custom build. We have also exempted self-build from the Community Infrastructure Levy and we are consulting on a similar policy change for Section 106 tariffs.
	Empty homes
	This Government have provided £235 million of funding which aims to bring up to 12,000 homes back into use by March 2015. This is part of a wider package of measures to get empty homes and empty buildings back into productive use, in contrast to the last Administration’s policy of wholesale demolition. The numbers of empty properties in England have fallen to a 10-year low, and the number of long-term vacant properties has fallen by around a third since 2009.
	Public sector land
	The Public Sector Land Programme has identified land with capacity for over 100,000 homes which we aim to release to the private sector by March 2015. At the end of December 2013, we had released land capable of delivering 68,000 homes to be built.
	Through the Strategic Land and Property Review we have identified scope to generate £5 billion of receipts from government land and property between 2015 and 2020. This will put land and property into the hands of those who can exploit them for commercial purposes-creating opportunities for housing and economic development.
	This was part of a series of measures to support brownfield development, as outlined in more detail in the answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 780W.
	There is more to do, but I hope this illustrates how this Government’s long-term economic plan is helping build more houses, help people move on and up the housing ladder and clean up the mess left by the last Administration.

Leasehold Advisory Service

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to appoint a new chariman to the Leasehold Advisory Service.

Kris Hopkins: Consideration will be given to the position of Chairman of the Leasehold Advisory Service later this year, when the current term of office is due to end.
	This will be carried out in line with the Code of Practice for ministerial appointments to Public Bodies published by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Local Government

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria he will use to assess requests for extra powers from local enterprise partnerships and combined authorities.

Kris Hopkins: The Government are currently negotiating a ‘Growth Deal’ with every Local Enterprise Partnership, based on the Strategic Economic Plans they submitted in March 2014. The criteria being used to assess the plans are set out in the guidance published in July 2013. These are: ambition and rationale for intervention; value for money; and deliverability and risk. Combined authorities, where they exist, are represented in Local Enterprise Partnerships and will have been involved in the development of the Strategic Economic Plans.
	Notwithstanding, as I indicated to the right hon. Member in my answers to him of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 778W and 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 24W, we should be cautious about any measure which had the effect of transferring power upwards away from elected local councils. Decentralisation should devolve power to the lowest appropriate level.
	Combined authorities are relatively new bodies. They now should focus on using the functions and powers that they currently have and prove themselves on delivering local growth; we do not intend to repeat the “function creep” mistakes of the Regional Development Agencies which just became unwieldy and unfocused, taking on too much and failing to deliver.

Local Government and Local Enterprise Partnerships

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers and freedoms relating to (a) skills and employment, (b) housing and (c) economic development have been devolved since May 2010 to (i) local government and (ii) local enterprise partnerships.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 1 July 2013
	: The Government are taking considerable steps to devolve power and freedom to local government and Local Enterprise Partnerships.
	Through the Localism Act, councils now have the general power of competence that enables them to do anything that an individual might do, apart from that which is specifically prohibited. In addition we have radically reformed the local government finance system putting levers and incentives in the hands of local authorities, for instance:
	The removal of ring-fencing from local government grants has given councils the freedom and flexibility over the money they receive and allows them to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending decisions to fit their local priority needs.
	Rewarded places that deliver growth, through the New Homes Bonus and Business Rate Retention.
	Local authorities now directly retain 50% of business rates locally which amounts to nearly £11 billion, instead of returning it to Whitehall.
	We established five pilot Rural Growth Networks aimed at tackling the barriers to economic growth in rural areas, such as a shortage of work premises, slow internet connectivity and fragmented business networks. These pilots expect to create up to 3,000 new jobs and support up to 700 new businesses, offering a local approach to local problems. We will share the lessons they learn with other Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities to help them promote growth in other rural areas.
	We have also given councils the ability to borrow against their Housing Revenue Account.
	Through the city deals programme we have devolved powers and responsibilities to 26 cities. For example we have:
	provided levers to deliver the skills and jobs that local businesses and people need;
	created joint investment programmes; and
	devolved greater financial powers and incentives to invest in growth to all cities.
	As we made clear in our response to Lord Heseltine’s review of growth, we intend to go further. We have committed to negotiating Growth Deals with every Local Enterprise Partnership through which we will allocate the Local Growth Fund and negotiate broader powers, freedoms and flexibilities where a strong case for decentralisation can be made. The Local Growth Fund brings together funding from skills, housing and transport and we have committed £2 billion in 2015-16 and it will continue to be at least £2 billion a year up to 2021. The Local Growth Fund includes:
	over £6 billion of transport funding;
	£300 million of additional Housing Revenue Account borrowing;
	£50 million of Local Infrastructure Funding for housing developers; and
	£300 million skills capital funding.
	We are also for the first time putting £5 billion of European Structural Investment Funds for the 2014-20 period under the strategic direction of Local Enterprise Partnerships, bringing the total resource (including the Local Growth Fund) under the control of Local Enterprise Partnerships to over £17 billion up until 2020.

Local Government: Pay

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on levels of remuneration for local government executives.

Brandon Lewis: The Government regularly receive representations from concerned taxpayers on the levels of remuneration offered to senior local government officers. Whilst councils are independent employers we have taken steps to increase transparency and accountability on these local decisions.
	Under the Localism Act, councils are required to publish an annual pay policy statement setting out their approach to pay, in particularly senior pay. In guidance to which all councils must have regard when preparing their policy statements, we have said that full council should to vote on senior salaries and exit packages of £100,000 or more.
	Through the Transparency Code councils are required to publish on-line a range of workforce information including details of senior salaries for employees earning £50,000 or more and detailed organisation charts. This will further open up senior pay to greater public scrutiny. We also published “50 ways to save” a practical guide on how councils can make sensible savings in their budgets. This includes either cutting senior pay or looking at sharing chief executives and senior management teams. I would note that Ministers in this Government cut their salaries in 2010 and then froze them for the rest of this Parliament.

Local Government: Publications

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answers of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 29W, and of 21 November 2013, Official Report, columns 980-1W, on local government publications, if he will list all councils that publish magazines or newsletters more than four times a year.

Brandon Lewis: Further to the information provided in my previous answers, my Department has not at this point undertaken a recent, definitive survey of every council in the country. It is a moving picture, as the commencement of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 has encouraged greater compliance with the Publicity Code—for example, further to my answer of 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 980W, I understand that East Northamptonshire has stopped its newspaper.
	Such local initiatives are preferable to intervention. Notwithstanding, I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 28 April 2014, Official Report, column 35WS, which outlines the rationale for the steps taken on 17 April against five specific councils with the worst breaches, and which notes how we are prepared to take further action against other breaches of the Publicity Code.

Planning Permission

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities take into account the effect of planning decisions on neighbouring authorities when making those decisions.

Nicholas Boles: The Government’s reforms enshrine the Local Plan as the cornerstone of the planning system. We have confidence that local authorities will show the leadership necessary to work together in order to produce Local Plans that are effective and deliverable on important cross-boundary matters. My Department has also published an on-line set of planning guidance, which includes new advice to local authorities on the Duty to Co-operate across local authority boundaries. Furthermore, adjacent authorities are consulted on planning applications which are likely to affect land in their area, and in making its decision, the determining authority must consider all representations made.

Private Rented Housing

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to publish the Government's response to the review of property conditions in the private rented sector.

Kris Hopkins: The closing date for responses to the discussion document was 28 March. We have received almost 300 substantive responses and these are currently being considered. We plan to publish an analysis of the replies and proposed next steps in the summer.

Solar Power: Planning Permission

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of solar farm planning applications were approved by local planning authorities in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

Nicholas Boles: We do not hold aggregated information on planning applications for solar farms in the form requested. However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Renewable Energy Planning Database (RESTATS) includes information on a range of renewable energy projects above 0.01 MW, including applications for solar energy developments. The database tracks the progress of potential new projects from inception, through planning, construction and operational stages, and can be accessed at:
	https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/planning-database

Temporary Accommodation: Essex

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families were based in temporary accommodation in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex in each quarter of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 27 January 2014
	The Department does not collect constituency level data. A table has been placed in the Library of the House with data for Chelmsford city council and Essex. To assist my right hon. Friend, I have provided quarterly data back for the last 10 years; the table illustrates how there are fewer households in temporary accommodation than the average under the last Administration.
	This Government have retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current spending review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We are seeing this investment making an impact with households now spending on average seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.
	We have also made some changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to end the main homelessness duty by arranging an offer of suitable accommodation in the private rented sector. This means households are likely to spend less time in temporary accommodation waiting for social housing to become available.

Urban Areas: Land Drainage

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he has received on requiring car-parking areas around large retail developments to retrofit sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS); and what assessment he has made of the benefits for urban flood control of such retrofitting of SuDS.

Dan Rogerson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	We know of no such representations. The National Planning Policy Framework prioritises the use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in developments where possible. DEFRA officials have met representatives from leading supermarkets to discuss the use of SuDS and their benefits in retail developments. Case studies assessing the benefits of SuDS on commercial developments are available on the DEFRA funded SusDrain website at:
	www.susdrain.org

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of electoral registration rates of attainers in (a) Scotland, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Wales and (d) England.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not hold separate estimates of registration rates of attainers for England, Scotland and Wales. However, its 2011 report on the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers in Great Britain found that 55% of 17-18 year olds were registered to vote. The sample size of the survey does not allow for country breakdowns.
	The Commission further informs me that their 2012 report on the Northern Ireland register found that 66% of 16-17 year olds were registered to vote.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the percentage annual canvass return rate was for each local government area in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012.

Gary Streeter: A copy of the information requested by the hon. Gentleman has been placed in the Library.

Electorate: Visual Impairment

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the number and proportion of visually impaired voters who receive election communication in a format they can understand.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that returning officers (ROs) are responsible for issuing election-related communications such as poll cards and postal voting statements which must, by law, contain information telling the recipient what to do if they need the information provided in a different format. It is for ROs, in discharging their duties, to identify how best to meet the needs of individuals in their area who are visually impaired. The Commission has made no assessment of the numbers of voters who receive information from ROs in their preferred format.
	The Commission also informs me that it ensures that its public information campaigns are accessible to those with visual impairments, and that the voter registration and information materials it produces are available in a variety of formats including Braille and Easy Read. The Commission has written to the RNIB, following the evidence they gave to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee on 1 May, to offer to meet to discuss what else could be done to help ensure that those with visual impairments can register and vote.

Electorate: Visual Impairment

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to cross-reference data on visual impairment with the electoral register for the purpose of improving election communications with the visually impaired.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it ensures that its public information campaigns are accessible to those with visual impairments, and that the voter registration and information materials it produces are available in a variety of formats including Braille and Easy Read. The Commission has written to the RNIB, following the evidence they gave to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee on 1 May, to offer to meet to discuss what else could be done to help ensure that those with visual impairments can register and vote.
	The Commission also informs me that electoral registration officers (EROs) are responsible for compiling and managing electoral registers and returning officers (ROs) are responsible for issuing election-related communications to those on the register. This includes poll cards and postal voting statements which must, by law, contain information telling the recipient what to do if they need the information provided in a different format. It is for EROs and ROs, in discharging their duties, to identify how best to meet the needs of individuals in their area who are visually impaired.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Education

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the UK plans to give to the Global Partnership for Education at its next funding round.

Lynne Featherstone: The UK is by far the largest donor to Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the largest bilateral donor to basic education. We are currently considering the level of future UK support to GPE based on their case for investment and the results to be delivered under their new funding model.

Developing Countries: Health Services

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department has taken to reorganise its funding model to ensure that it is encouraging service delivery for complex multiple needs, in line with an intregrated model of healthcare solutions.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID supports work to strengthen health systems and deliver health programmes, helping developing countries to assess and provide for the health needs of its people. This will enable countries to make sound decisions about the delivery of the promotion, prevention and treatment services that are needed.

Developing Countries: Health Services

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that the problem of rising health costs, in part owing to ageing populations, is addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Justine Greening: Countries will need stronger health systems if they are to be able to meet the diverse needs of an ageing population and we are working with them to encourage investment in cost-effective solutions to these challenges. We have supported the inclusion of universal health coverage as a target in a post 2015 framework, the aim of which is to ensure that all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them. This includes the elderly.

Developing Countries: Unemployment

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that the problems of youth unemployment and other forms of unemployment are addressed effectively in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Justine Greening: Economic development is the clearest way to end aid dependency through inclusive growth and job creation. The UK is a strong advocate for a post-2015 target and indicator on employment, including disaggregated targets for women and youth, and DFID is working through the United Nations Open Working Group process to achieve this.

Developing Countries: Urban Areas

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals effectively recognise the potential human and environmental costs arising from a growing proportion of the global population living in urban slums.

Justine Greening: The Government are keen that the Sustainable Development Goals include measures to improve conditions for poor urban residents and address the issues that lead to the formation of slums. We continue to support the approach to urban issues set out in the report of the High Level Panel on post-2015 goals, co-chaired by the Prime Minister. This promotes a detailed consideration of the urban implications of each goal and target.

Developing Countries: Urban Areas

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that action is taken in the Sustainable Development Goals to address the pressures which rapid urbanisation is placing upon the infrastructure of cities around the world and their inhabitants.

Justine Greening: We continue to support the approach to urban issues set out in the report of the High Level Panel on post-2015 goals, co-chaired by the Prime Minister. This promotes a detailed consideration of the urban implications of each goal and target, including those for infrastructure.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the ability of Nigerian federal authorities to provide adequate security for young women in northern states.

Lynne Featherstone: A team of UK experts who will advise and support the Nigerian authorities in its response to the abduction of over 200 school girls touched down in Abuja on the 9 May.
	The team is drawn from across Government, including DFID, FCO and the MOD, and will work with the Nigerian authorities leading on the abductions and terrorism in Nigeria. The team will be considering not just the recent incidents but also longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future and defeat Boko Haram.
	The team will be working closely with their US counterparts and others to coordinate efforts.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of trends in the numbers of forced marriages in northern Nigeria over the last five years.

Lynne Featherstone: Data from the last, 2008, Demographic and Health Survey suggest that the median age at marriage for girls and women in the north is about 16 years. This compares with the national median age of about 20 years. The 2013, Demographic and Health Survey is expected to be released this summer and will enable us to assess if the situation is changing.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of progress by Nigeria towards meeting Millennium Development Goal 3A on eliminating gender disparity in education.

Lynne Featherstone: The ratio of girls to boys in primary education in Nigeria has increased from 0.79 in 1990 to 0.91 in 2010. The regional average for Sub-Saharan Africa was 0.93 in 2011. Whilst some improvements have been made nationally, there remain significant challenges in the north to ensure that all children, girls and boys, have equitable access to a quality basic education.

Nigeria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the proportion of girls under the age of 16 years old in northern states of Nigeria who are in full-time education.

Lynne Featherstone: 52% of primary-aged girls and 36% of secondary-aged girls were attending school in northern states of Nigeria in 2011.

Palestinians

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with the Palestinian Authority on that body's use of UK funding.

Alan Duncan: The UK regularly meets Palestinian Authority Ministers, most recently on 6 March 2014 as part of our regular strategic dialogue to discuss progress against commitments in our Memorandum of Understanding. The discussion covered the range of areas of cooperation (including security and justice, finance and the economy) as well as progress on developing the new Palestinian National Development Plan.

HEALTH

Abortion

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether all abortions commissioned by NHS England from private providers are recorded in the abortion statistics.

Jane Ellison: It is a legal requirement for a medical practitioner terminating a pregnancy to notify the chief medical officer on form HSA4 within 14 days of the procedure whether it is undertaken in a national health service hospital or in the independent sector. All procedures are recorded in “Abortion Statistics, England and Wales” published annually.

Abortion

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last amended his Department's guidelines on the authorising of abortions; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The chief medical officer for England has written twice (on 23 February 2012 and 22 November 2013) to all medical practitioners reminding them of their responsibilities under the Abortion Act.
	The Department will be providing further guidance to all those involved in providing abortion care on compliance with the Act; this will be published shortly.

Ambulance Services

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average ambulance response time was in (a) Liverpool, (b) Merseyside and (c) England in each month since May 2007.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			 The median ambulance response times to treatment for category A1 calls in the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust2, 3, April 20114 to March 2014 
			  Median time to treatment for category A calls (in minutes) 
			 2011  
			 April 4.2 
			 May 5.0 
			 June 5.2 
			 July 5.0 
			 August 4.7 
			 September 4.8 
			 October 4.9 
			 November 4.9 
			 December 5.0 
		
	
	
		
			 2012  
			 January 4.8 
			 February 5.1 
			 March 5.0 
			 April 5.6 
			 May 5.7 
			 June 5.1 
			 July 5.1 
			 August 5.2 
			 September 5.3 
			 October 5.4 
			 November 5.4 
			 December 5.7 
			   
			 2013  
			 January 5.5 
			 February 5.6 
			 March 5.6 
			 April 5.8 
			 May 5.4 
			 June 5.5 
			 July 5.8 
			 August 5.7 
			 September 6.1 
			 October 6.0 
			 November 6.1 
			 December 6.1 
			   
			 2014  
			 January 5.8 
			 February 6.1 
			 March 6.1 
			 1 Category A calls are defined as those that are the result of immediately life threatening incidents. 2 North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust provides services to the Liverpool and Merseyside areas. Ambulance response times are not readily available for areas smaller than those covered by one ambulance trust. 3 It is not possible to calculate the median time to treatment for England from the medians for individual ambulance trusts. 4 Information is not available before April 2011. Source: Ambulance quality indicators, NHS England. 
		
	
	Before April 2011, data were collected annually in the KA34 Ambulance Statistics. This shows the annual trend in national ambulance activity has been increasing since 2007-08: from 4.3 million emergency journeys in 2007-08 to 5 million in 2012-13 (latest available).
	The performance of ambulance services is performance measured on a monthly basis against three response time standards. On the basis of these standards performance in the North West Ambulance Trust is broadly stable.
	
		
			 Percentage of category A calls responded to within 8 and 19 minutes in the North West Ambulance Trust between April 2011 and March 2014 
			 Percentage 
			 Financial year  Of all category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)1 Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)2 Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes (standard 75%)3 Of all category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes (standard 95%)4 
			 2011-12 April 75.2 n/a n/a 96.4 
			  May 74.2 n/a n/a 96.1 
			  June 74.1 n/a n/a 96.0 
			  July 76.9 n/a n/a 96.2 
			  August 80.8 n/a n/a 96.6 
			  September 78.0 n/a n/a 95.4 
			  October 77.4 n/a n/a 95.2 
			  November 78.0 n/a n/a 95.7 
			  December 75.6 n/a n/a 94.6 
			  January 79.1 n/a n/a 96.4 
		
	
	
		
			  February 75.6 n/a n/a 93.9 
			  March 75.7 n/a n/a 94.4 
			  2011-12 Total 76.7 n/a n/a 95.5 
			       
			 2012-13 April 77.3 n/a n/a 95.0 
			  May 76.3 n/a n/a 94.4 
			  June n/a 75.8 79.5 95.8 
			  July n/a 77.0 80.0 96.2 
			  August n/a 75.3 78.9 96.1 
			  September n/a 75.2 76.9 94.9 
			  October n/a 73.7 77.1 94.9 
			  November n/a 72.0 76.3 95.2 
			  December n/a 70.9 72.9 94.3 
			  January n/a 73.1 76.0 95.1 
			  February n/a 71.4 74.4 94.6 
			  March n/a 71.8 75.2 95.0 
			  2012-13 Total 76.8 73.5 76.6 95.1 
			       
			 2013-14 April n/a 75.7 78.6 96.2 
			  May n/a 77.8 80.8 96.8 
			  June n/a 79.6 81.1 96.6 
			  July n/a 75.4 77.9 95.6 
			  August n/a 78.9 79.6 96.0 
			  September n/a 71.9 75.5 94.8 
			  October n/a 74.2 76.5 95.5 
			  November n/a 74.0 74.8 94.5 
			  December n/a 74.8 75.2 95.0 
			  January n/a 77.1 78.2 95.8 
			  February n/a 75.3 76.0 96.4 
			  March n/a 75.3 75.4 96.3 
			  2013-14 Total n/a 75.9 77.4 95.8 
			 n/a = Not available. 1 From 1 June 2012, the reporting of ambulance category A response times to critically ill patients was split between Red 1 and Red 2. 2 Category A Red 1—where the call comes from a patient who is presenting conditions which may be life threatening, and where a response is the most time critical. 3 Category A Red 2—where the call comes from a patient who is presenting a serious condition which may be life threatening but may be less time critical than a Red 1 call. 4 Category A19—Category A call resulting in an ambulance arriving at the scene. Source: Ambulance quality indicators, NHS England.

Arthritis

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to improve awareness of and early intervention for rheumatoid arthritis.

Norman Lamb: In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published clinical guidance on the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adults, which set outs best practice on the diagnosis, care, treatment and support of patients. The guidance makes clear the importance of early diagnosis and is explicit that suspected cases should be referred as an urgent priority for specialist assessment and that early initiation of treatment can prevent irreversible damage to joints.
	In addition to this, information on the diagnosis and treatment of RA can also be accessed via the NICE Clinical Knowledge summaries website at:
	http://cks.nice.org.uk/rheumatoid-arthritis
	and more general information for the public can be found on the NHS Choices website at:
	www.nhs.uk/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis
	Through the mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with ongoing health problems, such as RA, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.

Cancer: Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for Health in Northern Ireland on the establishment of a cancer drugs fund; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: We have had no such discussions.

Community Nurses

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the pay of community staff nurses rises in line with inflation.

Daniel Poulter: In 2012 the Chancellor announced that public sector pay awards would be capped at an average of 1% in 2013-14 and at an average of up to 1% in 2014-15.
	The national health service’s greatest asset is its staff who deserve to be properly rewarded for the hard work they do in looking after patients. In the NHS, incremental pay costs almost £1 billion. In our evidence to the Pay Review Bodies we were clear that the NHS is facing the most significant financial challenge in its history and that trusts could not afford to pay all staff 1% which would cost £450 million (about £350 million for non-medical staff) and increments which for most staff is over 3.5% on average. The NHS cannot afford to employ more staff, pay them more and pay for increments.
	This year, all NHS staff should receive an additional payment of 1% either through their incremental pay or via a pay award if they are no longer eligible to receive incremental pay.
	In the wake of the Francis Inquiry, our first priority must be to protect and properly staff the front line so staff are confident that they will have the right number of colleagues working alongside them in hospitals or in patient’s homes. We have to make difficult decisions in order to protect frontline patient care. Giving all NHS staff a 1% pay award is equivalent to employing around 14,000 new nurses and could result in unsafe care.
	We know that NHS staff are disappointed that they did not receive the pay award they were expecting. Our door remains open to discussions with trade unions on how consolidated pay awards for all NHS staff can be made affordable in each of the next two years.

Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department will take into account NHS England's responsibility for commitments in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in its delivery of the strategy as a whole.

Jane Ellison: NHS England recently published its statement of intent showing how it will play its part in delivering the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in England. A more detailed plan will be built into NHS England’s five year strategy for specialised services.
	The UK Rare Disease Forum, supported by the Department, will monitor activity against the 51 commitments outlined in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. It will report progress to the health ministers of the four UK countries.

Doctors: Disciplinary Proceedings

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors have opted to retire and remove themselves from the medical register before facing an impending disciplinary hearing in each of the last three years.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is held by the General Medical Council (GMC), an independent body responsible for dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt. Departmental officials have spoken with the GMC who have advised that, as it will take some time for them to extract the data, they will provide a response to my hon. Friend directly.

Epidermolysis Bullose

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with Epidermolysis Bullose in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with Epidermolysis Bullose (EB) on an annual basis is not collected.
	NHS England commissions services for patients with EB as part of its remit to deliver specialised services. The service specification it has published for EB sets out that the condition is estimated to affect one in 17,000 live births and that there are around 5,000 people living with EB in the United Kingdom.

Euthanasia: Children

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when his Department’s investigation into child euthanasia will be concluded; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many cases of suspected child euthanasia his Department is currently investigating; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  when he plans to publish full details of the circumstances which led to his Department’s investigation into child euthanasia; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: Following public allegations of child euthanasia, the Department launched inquiries into them. These allegations, while serious, did not include details of specific cases, and we continue to urge those with any relevant information to contact the police in the first instance.

General Practitioners

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 127W, if he will list the outlier practices and the amount each is forecast to lose as a result of removing performance indicators from the Quality and Outcomes Framework.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold this information centrally, but details of practices identified by NHS England have been sent to area teams.
	As part of the changes to the General Medical Services (GMS) contract from April 2014, we have reduced the Quality and Outcomes Framework by more than a third. These changes are intended to free up space for general practitioners to provide more proactive and personalised care for their patients which includes their new responsibility of being accountable for all of their patients aged 75 and over.
	These changes were part of changes to GMS contract negotiated with the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association.

General Practitioners: Fareham

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the average annual change in income for GP practices in Fareham and Gosport arising from the withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of how many GP practices in Fareham and Gosport will lose income as a consequence of the withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee; and what actions his Department has put in place to mitigate the impact of any such losses on services.

Daniel Poulter: Both the Government and NHS England consider Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) payments to be inequitable because practices serving very similar populations get paid very different amounts per patient.
	As part of the general practitioner contract settlement in 2013, the Department decided to phase out MPIG payments over a seven year period, starting in the financial year 2014-15. The money released by doing this will be reinvested in the basic payments made to all General Medical Services (GMS) practices.
	NHS England advises that there are 16 practices in Fareham and Gosport currently receiving a MPIG payment under GMS contracts. Practices that face particular difficulty are encouraged to contact their local NHS England Area Team to discuss any issues so that they can together plan to mitigate these.

Health Professions: Insurance

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on (a) the number of companies that provide indemnity insurance for nurses and midwives and (b) the policies that are available for this.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not hold information on the number of companies that provide indemnity insurance for nurses and midwives or details on the policies that are available for this. In national health service organisations, it is not necessary for individual employees to take out their own indemnity insurance, unless they also undertake private work, because their employing organisation is, in law, vicariously liable for any negligence arising out of and in the course of their employment. All NHS trusts in England are members of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts operated on behalf of the Secretary of State by the NHS Litigation Authority.

Health Services

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when NHS England plans to publish its report on specialised service derogations; and what additional steps it is taking to ensure compliance.

Jane Ellison: NHS England advises that the publication date has yet to be determined. However, the report will not be published until after the pre-election period for the forthcoming local authority and European Parliamentary elections is completed on 22 May 2014.
	NHS England continues to work with their area teams on ensuring that all providers have robust plans for delivering services that meet the service specification.

Hepatitis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been admitted to hospital with a (a) primary and (b) secondary diagnosis of viral hepatitis in each year since 1997-98.

Jane Ellison: The Health and Social Care Information Centre collects data on the number of hospital admission episodes for hepatitis C. This does not reflect the actual number of people admitted to hospital, because the same person may have had more than one admission episode within the same time period. The data held by the Health and Social Care Information Centre are as follows:
	
		
			  Primary diagnosis Secondary diagnosis 
			 1997-98 4,045 4,738 
			 1998-99 4,204 5,963 
			 1999-2000 4,509 6,783 
			 2000-01 4,683 7,405 
			 2001-02 4,992 8,371 
			 2002-03 5,883 9,746 
			 2003-04 6,538 11,221 
			 2004-05 6,180 12,551 
			 2005-06 5,878 15,414 
			 2006-07 6,273 16,661 
			 2007-08 6,205 18,386 
			 2008-09 6,222 20,799 
			 2009-10 6,204 23,256 
			 2010-11 5,549 26,703 
			 2011-12 4,466 27,518 
			 2012-13 4,766 30,351

Hepatitis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people (a) infected and (b) diagnosed with viral hepatitis in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Hepatitis A, B, C and E are viruses that affect the liver. Where tests can differentiate acute from chronic infections data are presented as newly acquired infections and where not data are presented as newly diagnosed cases.
	Cases of confirmed newly acquired hepatitis A virus infection are reported by laboratories to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 1: Hepatitis A laboratory reports (newly acquired infections) , England (2002-12) 
			  Number of hepatitis A reports 
			 2002 1,278 
			 2003 999 
			 2004 610 
			 2005 469 
			 2006 374 
			 2007 344 
			 2008 344 
			 2009 341 
			 2010 359 
			 2011 252 
			 2012 279 
		
	
	Data on acute hepatitis B infections are reported both from laboratories and from Health Protection Teams to Public Health England. Reporting in this way commenced in 2008.
	
		
			 Table 2: Reports of acute hepatitis B infections (newly acquired infections), England (2008-12) 
			  Number of hepatitis B reports 
			 2008 620 
			 2009 597 
			 2010 512 
			 2011 589 
			 2012 554 
		
	
	Laboratory reports of newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C are reported to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 3: Laboratory reports of hepatitis C (newly diagnosed cases) , England (2002-12) 
			  Number of hepatitis C reports 
			 2002 4,809 
			 2003 5,570 
			 2004 6,240 
			 2005 6,295 
			 2006 6,961 
			 2007 7,808 
			 2008 8,407 
			 2009 8,662 
			 2010 7,882 
			 2011 9,917 
			 2012 10,873 
			 Notes: 1. At present serological tests are not able to differentiate between acute and chronic cases of hepatitis C infection. Therefore, laboratory reports of hepatitis C contain both recently acquired infections and past infections. For this reason the data represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C as opposed to newly acquired infections. 2. Hepatitis surveillance data for 2013 will be available in August 2014. 
		
	
	Laboratory reports of confirmed cases of hepatitis E are reported to Public Health England. Surveillance began in 2003.
	
		
			 Table 4: Laboratory reports of hepatitis E (newly acquired infections) , England (2003-12) 
			  Number of hepatitis E reports 
			 2003 122 
			 2004 145 
			 2005 294 
			 2006 239 
			 2007 161 
			 2008 168 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 166 
			 2010 258 
			 2011 435 
			 2012 530

Incontinence

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the findings of the recent Global Forum on Incontinence into improving health and social care in incontinence.

Norman Lamb: No assessment has been made of the findings of the recent Global Forum on Incontinence (GFI) into improving health and social care in incontinence. However, we applaud the work of the GFI and the work it is doing to improve the health and social care provisions for incontinence, giving patients and care givers a better quality of life.
	Responsibility for continence services sit with NHS England and clinical commissioning groups (CCG). CCGs are responsible for commissioning high quality continence services based on an assessment of local need and performance managing their providers in the delivery of high quality services.
	The Mandate to NHS England requires it to deliver continued improvements in relation to enhancing the quality of life for people with long-term conditions, including those suffering incontinence, across the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework. NHS England will be taking forward a major programme of work through the Primary Care Strategy; it has established a working group on continence care and will provide an update for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Continence Care on 24 June.
	To improve standards in continence care, the Department commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop clinical guidelines on the management of urinary incontinence in women (issued in 2006) and faecal incontinence in adults (issued in 2007), which are supported by commissioning tools to support CCGs. In February, NICE published a clinical Quality Standard on Faecal Incontinence, QS54, which describes high-priority areas for quality improvement in this area. NHS England continues to champion the use of Quality Standards with both commissioners and providers.
	We believe all patients have the right to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion.
	We recognise that continence can impact on every aspect of peoples’ lives and that it often requires a joined approach from both health and social care services. That is why in April the Department published the policy paper, “Transforming Primary Care: safe proactive, personalised care for those who need it”, which focuses on improving and individualising the management of out of hospital care, directly supporting those with continence problems by creating more integrated health and social care services. This paper has been placed in the Library.

Learning Disability

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of the £2.7 million announced for learning disability in the recently published NHS England business plan for 2014-15 will be spent on the proposed premature mortality review function;
	(2)  whether responsibility for implementing the premature mortality review function for people with a learning disability, announced in the NHS England business plan 2014-15 will sit at a national or local level; whether all local areas in England will be mandated to implement the review; and how local areas will be held accountable for implementing the review;
	(3)  when he expects the premature mortality review function for people with a learning disability, announced in the NHS England business plan 2014-15, to become fully operational; whether the data from that review will be analysed at a national level; and when he expects initial findings from that review to become available.

Norman Lamb: NHS England has made £1.5 million available in 2014-15 to undertake the work required to establish a national learning disability mortality review function by the end of March 2015. NHS England is currently undertaking work to define the detail of how the review function will operate. However, NHS England is clear that the starting point will be the proposals put forward by the Confidential Inquiry into Premature Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities team and will aim to develop proposals with input from a range of partners.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he discussed liver disease with his Department's Chief Medical Officer in the last 12 months; what the content of those discussions was; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: A wide variety of issues, including liver disease, are discussed at regular meetings between the chief medical officer and the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt). As these meetings are not routinely minuted it is not possible to specify at which meetings liver disease was discussed, or the specific contents of individual meetings. There have been no meetings specifically focused on liver disease between the Chief Medical Officer and the Secretary of State within the last 12 months.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of people with liver disease since September 2012;
	(2)  when his Department has held meetings with external organisations to discuss a strategy for combating liver disease since 11 May 2010; if he will place minutes of those meetings in the Library; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is responsible for the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes for people with liver disease. It is adopting a broad strategy to reduce premature mortality, including mortality from liver disease.
	The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has not met any external organisations to discuss a strategy for combating liver disease since 11 May 2010. The Secretary of State and current Ministers at the Department have not met with representatives of people living with liver disease since September 2012.
	NHS England and Public Health England are supporting clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to reduce premature mortality by providing commissioners with a suite of tools to help them maximise the best possible outcomes for their local communities such as Local Authority Profiles. These can help local authorities and clinical commissioning groups identify the significance of liver disease in their local area compared with the rest of the country and the actions they could prioritise to tackle it.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with (a) liver disease and (b) viral hepatitis in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Data are not collected on new cases of liver disease. Liver disease covers many individual diseases caused by different factors, such as alcoholic liver disease, fatty liver disease as well as hepatitis related diseases. The identification of new cases will take place in different settings, from general practice to hospital outpatients.
	The nearest proxy measure that we have is hospital admissions. However, hospital admissions only reflect the most serious cases when people are admitted to hospital. The number of hospital admissions for liver disease rose from 35,581 in 2001-02 to 57,682 in 2011-12, an increase of 62%.
	Hepatitis A, B, C and E are viruses that affect the liver. Where tests can differentiate acute from chronic infections, data is presented as newly acquired infections and where not, data is presented as newly diagnosed cases. Hepatitis surveillance data for 2013 will be available in August 2014.
	Cases of confirmed newly acquired hepatitis A virus infection are reported by laboratories to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 1: Hepatitis A laboratory reports (newly acquired infections), England (2002-2012). 
			  Number of hepatitis A reports 
			 2002 1,278 
			 2003 999 
			 2004 610 
			 2005 469 
			 2006 374 
			 2007 344 
			 2008 344 
			 2009 341 
			 2010 359 
			 2011 252 
			 2012 279 
		
	
	Data on acute hepatitis B infections are reported both from laboratories and from Health Protection Teams to Public Health England. Reporting in this way commenced in 2008.
	
		
			 Table 2: Reports of acute hepatitis B infections (newly acquired infections), England (2008-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis B reports 
			 2008 620 
			 2009 597 
			 2010 512 
			 2011 589 
			 2012 554 
		
	
	Laboratory reports of newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C are reported to Public Health England.
	
		
			 Table 3: Laboratory reports of hepatitis C (newly diagnosed cases), England (2002-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis C reports 
			 2002 4,809 
			 2003 5,570 
			 2004 6,240 
			 2005 6,295 
			 2006 6,961 
			 2007 7,808 
			 2008 8,407 
			 2009 8,862 
			 2010 7,882 
			 2011 9,917 
			 2012 10,873 
			 Note: At present serological tests are not able to differentiate between acute and chronic cases of hepatitis C infection. Therefore, laboratory reports of hepatitis C contain both recently acquired infections and past infections. For this reason the data represent newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C as opposed to newly acquired infections. Laboratory reports of confirmed cases of hepatitis E are reported to Public Health England. Surveillance began in 2003. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Laboratory reports of hepatitis E (newly acquired infections), England (2003-2012) 
			  Number of hepatitis E reports 
			 2003 122 
			 2004 145 
			 2005 294 
			 2006 239 
			 2007 161 
			 2008 168 
			 2009 166 
			 2010 258 
			 2011 435 
			 2012 530

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes relating to liver disease there have been for patients aged (a) under and (b) over 18 years old in (i) England and (ii) each parliamentary constituency in England in each year since 1997-98.

Jane Ellison: The information is not collected centrally in the format requested. A count of finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of liver disease for patients aged 0-17 and over 18 years old, by primary care trust of residence and England in total for the years 1997-98 to 2012-13 has been placed in the Library.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the rate of liver disease among adults was in the most recent period for which figures are available in each clinical commissioning group area.

Jane Ellison: The following table shows finished admission episodes for liver disease in 2012-13 by clinical commissioning group of residence, where the patient was 18 years or older. The rate is supplied per 100,000 of the population.
	
		
			 Count of finished admission episodes1 and rate per 100,000 population2 for liver disease3 where the patient was 18 years or older, by clinical commissioning group of residence4, 2012-13 
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 CCG of residence CCG name FAE FAE per 100,000 residents 
			 02N NHS Airedale, Wharfedale And Craven CCG 141 114 
			 09C NHS Ashford CCG 99 107 
			 10Y NHS Aylesbury Vale CCG 162 107 
			 07L NHS Barking and Dagenham CCG 209 155 
			 07M NHS Barnet CCG 313 112 
			 02P NHS Barnsley CCG 302 164 
			 99E NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCG 270 139 
			 02Q NHS Bassetlaw CCG 137 152 
			 11E NHS Bath and North East Somerset CCG 143 99 
			 06F NHS Bedfordshire CCG 514 158 
			 07N NHS Bexley CCG 208 116 
			 13P NHS Birmingham Crosscity CCG 797 148 
			 04X NHS Birmingham South and Central CCG 242 161 
			 00Q NHS Blackburn with Darwen CCG 158 145 
			 00R NHS Blackpool CCG 217 192 
			 00T NHS Bolton CCG 423 198 
			 10G NHS Bracknell and Ascot CCG 104 103 
			 02W NHS Bradford City CCG 152 268 
			 02R NHS Bradford Districts CCG 497 201 
			 07P NHS Brent CCG 334 137 
			 09D NHS Brighton and Hove CCG 238 105 
			 11H NHS Bristol CCG 591 172 
			 07Q NHS Bromley CCG 278 114 
		
	
	
		
			 00V NHS Bury CCG 291 202 
			 02T NHS Calderdale CCG 222 139 
			 06H NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG 1,249 187 
			 07R NHS Camden CCG 290 157 
			 04Y NHS Cannock Chase CCG 185 176 
			 09E NHS Canterbury and Coastal CCG 244 151 
			 99F NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG 128 93 
			 09A NHS Central London (Westminster) CCG 194 143 
			 00W NHS Central Manchester CCG 262 185 
			 10H NHS Chiltern CCG 233 95 
			 00X NHS Chorley and South Ribble CCG 282 213 
			 07T NHS City and Hackney CCG 255 127 
			 09G NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG 510 132 
			 03V NHS Corby CCG 61 127 
			 05A NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG 515 156 
			 09H NHS Crawley CCG 109 131 
			 07V NHS Croydon CCG 358 129 
			 01H NHS Cumbria CCG 659 161 
			 00C NHS Darlington CCG 115 139 
			 09J NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG 309 160 
			 02X NHS Doncaster CCG 308 130 
			 11J NHS Dorset CCG 887 145 
			 05C NHS Dudley CCG 280 114 
			 00D NHS Durham Dales, Easington And Sedgefield CCG 355 163 
			 07W NHS Ealing CCG 328 125 
			 06K NHS East and North Hertfordshire CCG 499 119 
			 01A NHS East Lancashire CCG 588 204 
			 03W NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG 339 134 
			 02Y NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG 323 127 
			 05D NHS East Staffordshire CHS 132 136 
			 09L NHS East Surrey CCG 181 133 
			 09F NHS Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford CCG 186 126 
			 01C NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG 243 155 
			 07X NHS Enfield CCG 342 144 
			 03X NHS Erewash CCG 136 181 
			 10K NHS Fareham and Gosport CCG 148 95 
			 02M NHS Fylde and Wyre CCG 186 138 
			 00F NHS Gateshead CCG 459 287 
			 11M NHS Gloucestershire CCG 685 143 
			 06M NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG 368 216 
			 03A NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG 266 142 
			 01E NHS Greater Preston CCG 367 230 
			 08A NHS Greenwich CCG 235 119 
			 09N NHS Guildford and Waverley CCG 128 79 
			 01F NHS Halton CCG 108 111 
			 03D NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG 158 127 
			 08C NHS Hammersmith and Fulham CCG 182 124 
			 03Y NHS Hardwick CCG 106 122 
			 08D NHS Haringey CCG 306 152 
			 03E NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG 180 144 
			 08E NHS Harrow CCG 202 108 
			 00K NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-On-Tees CCG 359 162 
			 09P NHS Hastings and Rother CCG 222 152 
			 08F NHS Havering CCG 250 133 
			 05F NHS Herefordshire CCG 138 93 
			 06N NHS Herts Valleys CCG 375 86 
			 01D NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG 508 315 
			 99K NHS High Weald Lewes Havens CCG 112 84 
			 08G NHS Hillingdon CCG 310 144 
			 09X NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG 165 95 
			 07Y NHS Hounslow CCG 277 139 
			 03F NHS Hull CCG 305 151 
			 06L NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG 433 138 
		
	
	
		
			 10L NHS Isle of Wight CCG 145 129 
			 08H NHS Islington CCG 252 145 
			 11N NHS Kernow CCG 697 160 
			 08J NHS Kingston CCG 127 98 
			 01J NHS Knowsley CCG 168 148 
			 08K NHS Lambeth CCG 274 110 
			 01K NHS Lancashire North CCG 176 137 
			 02V NHS Leeds North CCG 237 151 
			 03G NHS Leeds South and East CCG 451 246 
			 03C NHS Leeds West CCG 390 150 
			 04C NHS Leicester City CCG 332 131 
			 08L NHS Lewisham CCG 334 154 
			 03T NHS Lincolnshire East CCG 309 166 
			 04D NHS Lincolnshire West CCG 228 124 
			 99A NHS Liverpool CCG 722 190 
			 06P NHS Luton CCG 314 205 
			 04E NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG 258 170 
			 09W NHS Medway CCG 233 113 
			 08R NHS Merton CCG 162 103 
			 06Q NHS Mid Essex CCG 379 127 
			 04F NHS Milton Keynes CCG 217 112 
			 04G NHS Nene CCG 692 143 
			 04H NHS Newark and Sherwood CCG 143 155 
			 10M NHS Newbury and District CCG 65 80 
			 00G NHS Newcastle North and East CCG 229 194 
			 00H NHS Newcastle West CCG 228 207 
			 08M NHS Newham CCG 413 176 
			 10N NHS North and West Reading CCG 78 102 
			 04J NHS North Derbyshire CCG 284 129 
			 00J NHS North Durham CCG 325 166 
			 06T NHS North East Essex CCG 314 125 
			 99M NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG 208 130 
			 03H NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG 181 144 
			 10J NHS North Hampshire CCG 175 104 
			 03J NHS North Kirklees CCG 163 116 
			 03K NHS North Lincolnshire CCG 198 149 
			 01M NHS North Manchester CCG 491 377 
			 06V NHS North Norfolk CCG 291 211 
			 11T NHS North Somerset CCG 238 146 
			 05G NHS North Staffordshire CCG 257 149 
			 99C NHS North Tyneside CCG 379 235 
			 09Y NHS North West Surrey CCG 327 124 
			 99P NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG 1,073 153 
			 00L NHS Northumberland CCG 488 191 
			 06W NHS Norwich CCG 362 229 
			 04K NHS Nottingham City CCG 514 209 
			 04L NHS Nottingham North and East CCG 161 139 
			 04M NHS Nottingham West CCG 154 172 
			 00Y NHS Oldham CCG 412 244 
			 10Q NHS Oxfordshire CCG 647 127 
			 10R NHS Portsmouth CCG 211 128 
			 08N NHS Redbridge CCG 324 152 
			 05J NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG 231 164 
			 08P NHS Richmond CCG 156 106 
			 03L NHS Rotherham CCG 297 147 
			 04N NHS Rushcliffe CCG 180 204 
			 01G NHS Salford CCG 508 274 
			 05L NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG 536 151 
			 03M NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG 151 168 
			 03N NHS Sheffield CCG 691 156 
			 05N NHS Shropshire CCG 265 107 
			 10T NHS Slough CCG 127 123 
			 05P NHS Solihull CCG 180 111 
		
	
	
		
			 11X NHS Somerset CCG 533 125 
			 01R NHS South Cheshire CCG 199 142 
			 99Q NHS South Devon and Torbay CCG 379 170 
			 05Q NHS South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula CCG 238 134 
			 10V NHS South Eastern Hampshire CCG 163 98 
			 12A NHS South Gloucestershire CCG 171 82 
			 10A NHS South Kent Coast CCG 272 168 
			 99D NHS South Lincolnshire CCG 148 131 
			 01N NHS South Manchester CCG 221 173 
			 06Y NHS South Norfolk CCG 368 197 
			 10W NHS South Reading CCG 86 102 
			 01T NHS South Sefton CCG 230 181 
			 00M NHS South Tees CCG 434 202 
			 00N NHS South Tyneside CCG 266 224 
			 05R NHS South Warwickshire CCG 257 123 
			 04Q NHS South West Lincolnshire CCG 164 170 
			 05T NHS South Worcestershire CCG 413 176 
			 10X NHS Southampton CCG 203 106 
			 99G NHS Southend CCG 111 81 
			 04R NHS Southern Derbyshire CCG 654 162 
			 01V NHS Southport and Formby CCG 145 157 
			 08Q NHS Southwark CCG 350 150 
			 01X NHS St Helens CCG 262 188 
			 05V NHS Stafford and Surrounds CCG 159 130 
			 01W NHS Stockport CCG 377 169 
			 05W NHS Stoke On Trent CCG 258 128 
			 00P NHS Sunderland CCG 480 217 
			 99H NHS Surrey Downs CCG 236 107 
			 10C NHS Surrey Heath CCG 126 171 
			 08T NHS Sutton CCG 186 124 
			 10D NHS Swale CCG 84 101 
			 12D NHS Swindon CCG 159 94 
			 01Y NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG 346 175 
			 05X NHS Telford and Wrekin CCG 183 142 
			 10E NHS Thanet CCG 198 186 
			 07G NHS Thurrock CCG 143 119 
			 08V NHS Tower Hamlets CCG 285 139 
			 02A NHS Trafford CCG 298 169 
			 03Q NHS Vale of York CCG 349 124 
			 02D NHS Vale Royal CCG 100 125 
			 03R NHS Wakefield CCG 296 114 
			 05Y NHS Walsall CCG 267 129 
			 08W NHS Waltham Forest CCG 226 113 
			 08X NHS Wandsworth CCG 229 91 
			 02E NHS Warrington CCG 187 117 
			 05H NHS Warwickshire North CCG 182 123 
			 02F NHS West Cheshire CCG 224 122 
			 07H NHS West Essex CCG 311 138 
			 11A NHS West Hampshire CCG 508 117 
			 99J NHS West Kent CCG 333 93 
			 02G NHS West Lancashire CCG 134 152 
			 04V NHS West Leicestershire CCG 328 110 
			 08Y NHS West London CCG 237 132 
			 07J NHS West Norfolk CCG 250 180 
			 07K NHS West Suffolk CCG 380 217 
			 02H NHS Wigan Borough CCG 544 217 
			 99N NHS Wiltshire CCG 347 93 
			 11C NHS Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead CCG 146 134 
			 12F NHS Wirral CCG 527 209 
			 11D NHS Wokingham CCG 129 107 
			 06A NHS Wolverhampton CCG 290 149 
			 06D NHS Wyre Forest CCG 115 145 
			  England resident total 61,841 147 
		
	
	
		
			  Unknown/not England resident 837 n/a 
			  Total 62,678 n/a 
			 1Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 2ONS population estimates Population estimates—mid-2012 population estimates from the Office of National Statistics have been used. The estimated resident population of an area includes all people who usually live there, whatever their nationality. People arriving into an area from outside the United Kingdom are only included in the population estimates if their total stay in the UK is 12 months or more. Visitors and short-term migrants (those who enter the UK for three to 12 months for certain purposes) are not included. Similarly, people who leave the UK are only excluded from the population estimates if they remain outside the UK for 12 months or more. This is consistent with the United Nations recommended definition of an international long-term migrant. Members of UK and non-UK armed forces stationed in the UK are included in the population and UK forces stationed outside the UK are excluded. Students are taken to be resident at their term time address. 3Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. The following ICD10 codes have been used to identify 'Liver Disease': K70—Alcoholic liver disease K71—Toxic liver disease K72—Hepatic failure, not elsewhere classified K73—Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified K74—Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver K75—Other inflammatory liver diseases K76—Other diseases of liver K77—*Liver disorders in diseases classified elsewhere (note that this code may appear in the first secondary diagnosis position) Q44—Cystic disease of liver B15—Acute hepatitis B16—Acute hepatitis B17—Other viral hepatitis B18—Chronic viral hepatitis B19—Unspecified viral hepatitis C22.0—Liver cell carcinoma C22.1—Intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma C22.2—Hepatoblastoma C22.3—Angiosarcoma of liver C22.4—Other sarcomas of liver C22.7—Other specified carcinomas of liver C22.9—Malignant neoplasm of liver, unspecified D13.4—Benign neoplasm of liver I81.X—Portal vein thrombosis I82.0—Budd-Chiari syndrome K83—Other diseases of biliary tract T86—Liver transplant failure and rejection 4CCG of residence The clinical commissioning group (CCG) containing the patient’s normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another area for treatment. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to page 54 of the Chief Medical Officer's 2011 annual report, if he will place in the Library the figures underpinning the statement that liver disease mortality is increasing in England at the time when the average of our closest counterparts, EU members that joined pre-2004 is decreasing; if he will update those figures to include the latest available data; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: All of the datasets supporting statements and images in the ‘Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer Volume One 2011, On the State of the Public’s Health’, may be downloaded by following the link at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/cmo-annual-report-2011-volume-one-data-available
	The datasets are not available in a hard copy format from the Department. It is anticipated that the figures will be updated later in the financial year.
	In our mandate to the national health service, we set out the ambition to make England one of the most successful countries in Europe at preventing premature deaths from illnesses such as liver disease.

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 43W, on medical records: databases, whether his Department plans any procurement in connection with care.data.

Daniel Poulter: NHS England is currently planning to procure an agency to conduct research with the public and stakeholder groups to inform communications and engagement activity with those audiences for the care.data programme.
	Should a contract be let which is in relation to, or in support of, care.data the procurement of those goods and/or services will be compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, as amended. Any procurement would be aligned with applicable government policies and shall ensure best practice is followed, including a robust evaluation of bidders against objective criteria.

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 355W, on medical records: databases, if he will bar Atos from having any involvement with care.data.

Daniel Poulter: The Public Contracts Regulations 2006, as amended, allow for suppliers to be classed as ineligible to bid for contracts in circumstances where the supplier or its representative has been convicted of criminal offences relating to conspiracy, corruption, bribery or fraud. Where this is not the case, suppliers must be treated equally and track record would be assessed in line with Government policy as part of any tendering process.

Mental Health Services

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2014, Official Report, column 714, on physical and mental health (parity of esteem), if he will collect and publish mental health spending data for (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) future years.

Norman Lamb: NHS England currently collects and publishes information about mental health spending via its Programme Budgeting Data collection and published expenditure data for 2012-13 on 21 February 2014. This is available on its website at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/resources/resources-for-ccgs/prog-budgeting
	We are working with NHS England to support its plans to develop the Programme Budgeting Dataset for 2013-14 to provide a more meaningful analysis of expenditure on mental health conditions.

NHS: Insolvency

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 28 April 2014, Official Report, column 461W, on NHS: insolvency, when he plans to place in the Library the minutes of the meeting on 2 April 2014.

Jane Ellison: We plan to place a final copy of the minutes of the meeting on 2 April in the Library in due course, once the terms of reference for the Committee have been finalised.

NHS: Obesity

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to tackle obesity in the NHS staff.

Jane Ellison: National health service organisations are encouraged to lead the way in supporting staff to address their own weight and health issues, in addition to helping patients do the same. NHS England has committed to supporting the NHS Sports and Activity Challenge which aims to support the importance of staff wellbeing, as well as the opportunities which it offers to deliver the very best care we can to patients, carers and the public more generally.
	The Public Health Responsibility Deal health at work pledges include one on Healthier Staff Restaurants which makes it easier for people to choose and maintain a healthier diet while at work. Already 21 NHS trusts have signed up to the Healthier Staff Restaurants pledge.
	Public Health England (PHE) has commissioned Liverpool city council and the Health and Work Centre to produce national standards to support local delivery of the Workplace Wellbeing Charter, which will be launched in the summer. Underpinning the new national standard is a series of workplace health topic guides. Among the first series of guides to be launched in the autumn are guides on improving healthy eating and increasing physical activity in the office.
	Many NHS organisations are already taking part in the Workplace Wellbeing Charter schemes and accessing the weight management, physical activity and healthy eating support available locally.
	PHE has also commissioned an e-learning module on obesity and weight management through the Royal College of General Practice and this will be launched in the summer.
	PHE is working with the Department and NHS Employers to encourage NHS trusts to use the Government Food Buying Standards as a key component of their work to support obese staff by creating a healthier and supportive work environment.

Nurses: Recruitment

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of recent NHS pay policy on the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain nursing staff.

Daniel Poulter: The aim of the Government’s pay policy is to fairly reward nurses and other staff while ensuring that pay is affordable and that front-line patient services are protected. Our assessment of this policy is that it has been effective in recruiting, retaining and motivating the nursing workforce. There are now more nurses than at any time under the previous Government.

Pancreatic Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will create a national audit of pancreatic cancer services.

Jane Ellison: There are currently no plans for an audit of pancreatic cancer services as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme.
	However, in response to a recommendation from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pancreatic Cancer, NHS England has recently asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop a Clinical Guideline and Quality Standard on pancreatic cancer. When completed, these could provide the standards against which a future national clinical audit could be developed.

Pancreatic Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that treatments proven to show benefit to pancreatic cancer patients will be made available on the NHS as quickly as possible.

Jane Ellison: It is important that patients are able to access those treatments proven to show benefit and that their clinicians think are right for them. In September 2013, NHS England launched a new £16.9 million Commissioning through Evaluation programme which will widen access to innovative treatments to patients where there are real prospects for benefit. Commissioning through Evaluation, which was originally developed with clinicians treating heart conditions, will enable treatments and service to be funded within defined parameters, in a small number of participating centres, and within an explicit evaluation programme. These treatments have all been identified by clinicians and patient representatives as showing significant ‘promise’ as potential treatment options for the future.
	Through the Early Access to Medicines scheme, launched in March 2014, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will provide a scientific opinion on promising new, unlicensed or off-label medicines to treat, diagnose or prevent life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions which do not have adequate treatment options. The hope is that the scheme, which will operate within the current regulatory structure, could give patients with these conditions access much sooner to medicines that represent a significant advance in their area of unmet need.
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued technology appraisal guidance which recommends gemcitabine (Gemzar) as an option for treating patients with advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas who meet certain clinical criteria. NICE is currently appraising a number of new drugs, including nimotuzumab (Theraloc), masitinib (Masiviera) and paclitaxel formulated as albumin-bound nanoparticles (Abraxane) for pancreatic cancer.
	National health service commissioners are legally required to fund those treatments recommended by NICE in its technology appraisal guidance. Where a cancer drug is not routinely funded by the NHS, patients in England may be able to access it via the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Potatoes

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps his Department has taken to promote potatoes as part of a healthy diet.

Jane Ellison: The Government recommend eating plenty of starchy foods, including potatoes, as part of a healthy balanced diet, as depicted in the ‘eatwell plate’. This provides a visual representation of the types and proportions of the foods needed for a healthy, balanced diet and advises that starchy foods, such as potatoes, breads, cereals, rice and pasta should make up about a third of our diet.
	The Government utilise the eatwell plate alongside other mechanisms to promote the consumption of starchy foods, such as potatoes. This includes providing tips on healthy eating through the Live Well pages of the NHS Choices website and recipes through Public Health England’s social marketing campaign, Change4Life.

Prostate Cancer

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) elective and (b) emergency admissions to hospital with a (i) primary and (ii) secondary diagnosis of prostate cancer there have been in each year since 2005, (A) in England and (B) by commissioning area of responsibility.

Jane Ellison: Figures showing the number of finished admission episodes with primary and secondary (but not primary) diagnosis of prostate cancer by admission method for 2005-06 to 2012-13 by primary care trust (PCT) of responsibility and for England in total have been placed in the Library.

Respite Care

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

Norman Lamb: From 2008-09, the Department made £340 million available (for three years), for palliative care and end-of-life services, short breaks, community equipment and wheelchair services for disabled children and young people.
	In each of the last five years, we have made an annual grant of £10 million to 40 children’s hospice services. An additional £721,000 was made available from 2012-13 for seven new children’s hospices not in receipt of the original grant. In addition to the annual grant, we also made available a one-off grant of £19 million in 2010-11 to support local children’s palliative services and over £7.5 million in 2013-14 in capital grants for children’s hospices and hospices at home.
	We have also provided £400 million to the national health service over four years from 2011 for family carers to have breaks from their caring responsibilities. In the 2013 spending review, we announced the £3.8 billion Better Care Fund, which includes £130 million funding for carers’ breaks for 2015-16.

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists the decision of its faculty of sexual and reproductive health not to allow doctors and nurses who have a conscientious objection to supplying contraceptive drugs or devices which act after fertilisation to receive its diploma in sexual and reproductive health.

Jane Ellison: The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare is responsible for decisions on the syllabus of its diploma, the requirements for entry to the diploma course, and the award of a diploma qualification.

Royal Preston Hospital

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate reports that the neurology department at Royal Preston Hospital is allocating appointments to patients and then instructing them not to attend on the date and time given as the appointment is only made for consultants to view the patient's referral letter; whether (a) his Department for (b) NHS England issues guidance on the allocation of appointments which patients are instructed not to attend; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The allocation of appointments is a local matter for the national health service and the hon. Member should contact the chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for further information. We understand the trust has already investigated this issue and posted an explanation on its website:
	www.lancsteachinghospitals.nhs.uk/neurology-non-appointment-letters

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has commissioned on the effect of patients receiving urgent investigations and treatment following a transient ischaemic attack on reducing (a) the risk of future strokes and (b) the cost to the NHS of treating strokes; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: Funding from the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has supported the EXPRESS (Early use of eXisting PREventive Strategies for Stroke) study led by the stroke prevention research unit at John Radcliffe hospital, Oxford. The aim of the study was to measure the effect of more rapid treatment after transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke in patients who were not admitted directly to hospital. Findings have been published in the journals “Lancet” and “Lancet Neurology”. These include findings on the effect of urgent treatment for TIA and minor stroke on early recurrent stroke, and on disability and hospital costs.
	An NIHR-funded project commissioned by the former Service Delivery and Organisation programme studied the optimum model of service delivery for TIA. A report of the study is available in the NIHR journals library at:
	www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/64505/FR-08-1504-112.pdf
	The study included consideration of the cost-effectiveness of different patterns of service provision for patients who have had a TIA.

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had on ways of improving awareness of transient ischaemic attacks on the part of (a) GPs, (b) staff in A and E departments and (c) other health staff.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is responsible for improving awareness of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) among front-line health staff. In addition, both the recent Act FAST campaign conducted by Public Health England and the Stroke Association campaign launched last week will improve awareness of TIAs among professionals and the public alike.
	The provision of timely access to TIA clinics has greatly improved over recent years and more patients are having carotid surgery in a timely fashion than ever before. However, we recognise that there are still improvements to be made and part of the work of reorganising and modernising stroke services involves ensuring that TIA care is of the highest quality.

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist transient ischaemic attack clinics are currently operating in each NHS trust in each region of England.

Jane Ellison: Information from the latest Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) organisational audit published in 2012, found that 99% of acute trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had a neurovascular (transient ischaemic attack) clinic with a median of 20 clinics held in each four week period. More information can be found on page 64 of the 2012 SSNAP audit report at the following link:
	www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/ssnap-acute-organisational-audit_2012-public-report.pdf